


The Lillie's End-Of-The-World Unfinished Drafts Mass Post Extravaganza

by TheLillie



Series: Trans-Galactic Cell Service [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLillie/pseuds/TheLillie
Summary: In honor of Steven Universe Future ending, I’m taking every Steven Universe thing I’ve ever written and posting all of it at once. Almost. Some are short, some are longer; some are bad, some are better. I'm just gettin' em all out. It’s the end of the world--SU is over, plague is coming for us all, I’m personally uprooting and changing my entire life irl, and so I might as well take this moment to clear out half my google docs.Thank you for coming; thank you for staying; thank you for watching the show!(Series "Trans-Galactic Cell Service" applies to chapters 2, 13, and 15; series "one, did you miss me? two, how much?" applies to chapter 6)
Relationships: Amethyst/Pearl (Steven Universe), Amethyst/Peridot (Steven Universe), Amethyst/Vidalia, Bismuth/Jasper (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli & Pearl (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe), Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Rose Quartz/Greg Universe
Series: Trans-Galactic Cell Service [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1129499
Comments: 15
Kudos: 30





	1. scared (Steven)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I spat this out directly after Stuck Together aired. I shared it in The Cluster, a Discord server of various su fic writers, but never felt it counted as enough of a actual fic to go into the Archive.

He holds Topaz’s arm, tightly. She doesn’t react. At least, he can’t hear or see a reaction.

It’s almost a familiar arm--the thickness of it, the way skin and fat squishes over tender muscle, the solid strength of it around his waist.

(Never mind that her skin’s a little smoother and a little colder than anyone else who’s ever held him.)

If he closes his eyes and uses his imagination he can almost pretend maybe it’s Dad’s arm, or Amethyst’s, or Ruby’s or Sadie’s or Uncle Andy’s or Mom’s--

He opens his eyes. It’s just Topaz’s arm.

He counts her steps. The other topaz--the other half of Topaz?--is probably still taking the exact same steps in the opposite direction, with Lars.

One. Two. Three. Four.

_ I don’t want to do this. _

He bites his tongue. Five. Six. He’s going to have to be totally determined, totally certain when he faces the Diamonds. 

Seven. Eight.

He might as well get all his doubt out now.

_ I don’t want to do this. I’m scared. _

Nine. Ten. Eleven.  _ I’m scared.  _ Twelve, thirteen,  _ I don’t want to do this,  _ fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,

_ I’m scared. _

seventeen, eighteen,

_ I want Dad I want Pearl I want Amethyst I want Garnet _

nineteen, twenty,

_ I want Connie I want Peridot I want Lapis I want Lion I want Lars _

twenty-one, twenty-two,

_ I want to go home _

twenty-three,

_ I don’t want to do this _

twenty-four,

and Topaz stops at a door.

_ I’m scared. _


	2. Twenty Questions (Greg/Rose)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very reactionary to A Single Pale Rose, specifically the gag order and all the discourse around it. I honestly hope this is more or less what actually went down, otherwise...I dunno, I'll kick some rocks. Pre-Steven, right after We Need To Talk.

Greg awoke to Rose staring at him. That in and of itself wasn’t unusual--she often liked to spend the night watching him sleep, and then wake him in the morning with soft coos and kisses up his jaw and ear. She had an eerie knack for sensing his internal clock and waking him exactly when he’d be most well-rested. It’d honestly become a pretty nice routine.

What was unusual this morning was that Rose’s stare wasn’t its regular warm, half-lidded wonder--it was hard, unflinching determination.

“Morning, Warrior Princess,” Greg joked, sitting up a little and rubbing a tired eye. “What’s with the glare?”

“I want to talk,” Rose replied.

“Hm? About what?”

“About anything. Everything.” She sat up straight, the top of her curls brushing the ceiling of the van, and her expression loosened. “You were right, last night. And...I want to let you know me.”

Greg blinked. “Oh. We’re doing this right now.”

“Is that okay?”

“No, yeah, it’s great, it’s just--this is a big deal, I guess.” Greg forced down a nervous laugh and ran his hand over his hair. “Yeah. Lemme get dressed first. I’ll meet you up at the lighthouse.”

“Okay,” Rose smiled. Greg puckered his lips, and Rose accepted a quick kiss before pushing open the van’s back door and disappearing down the beach.

After throwing on his jeans and star-decorated tank top--and grabbing his guitar, just in case--Greg ran up the hill above the Crystal Gems’ temple to the lighthouse. Rose sat at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the ocean, eyes closed and hair rustling in the breeze. 

Greg stepped up beside her without saying anything--she looked so peaceful listening to the waves, he didn’t want to disturb her. Quietly he sat down on the ground next to her, close enough to brush fingers but not thighs.

Rose opened her eyes.

“Anything you ask,” she said without turning to him. “I promise I'll answer it honestly.”

_ (He starts with kinda dumb non-questions like "how are you doing today" and "are these shorts working for me? I finally caved and bought some new ones", just to sort of dispel the awkwardness or get the ball rolling before what he's really curious about.  _

_ He asks what made her leave her home and why she seems to hate it so much now. She talks about Earth and the empire, but with a little prodding, talks about the caste system and how everyone is forced into roles they don't want. Greg asks what role she was forced into. She hesitates, takes a deep breath, opens her mouth--and then claps her hands over her face before she can get a syllable out.  _

_ Greg notices her struggling after a sec and tells her it's okay, she doesn't have to say anything if it's too painful, let's move on to the next question. _

_ Greg asks what Rose's favorite color is. Dumb question, it's obviously pink, right? But no. She weaves her fingers through his hair. Her favorite color is brown. I don't think there's any brown on Homeworld--not nearly in as many shades and hues and tones as on Earth. _

_ I think this is the moment when Greg decides he doesn’t care about Rose’s past. She’s obviously ready to move on from it, and she loves Earth and him much more than she loved anything else back there. And I think it’s when he becomes ready to move on from his own past. It’s a sweet romantic moment. _

_ When the scene changes, it’s down to the temple and a few hours later, Pearl’s point of view, and Rose rushes up to her, alone and panicked.) _

“Where’s Garnet and Amethyst?”

Pearl blinked. “Out on a mission. Garnet said I could stay behi--”

“So they’re far away? And they’re not coming back for a while?”

“Yes? What’s--”

Rose glanced over both shoulders, as if checking for intruders or eavesdroppers.

“Pearl, who am I?”

“Rose, what is this about?”

_ “Who am I?” _

Pearl hesitated, searching Rose’s expression. Finally, breathing deep and bringing her voice low, she said, “My D--”

Before she could even get a syllable out, both hands clapped over her mouth.

Rose stepped back.

_ (She didn’t realize quite what she was doing. She definitely didn’t realize it would go both ways. But when she said “let’s never speak of this again,” that’s exactly what she spoke into existence: neither of them could ever speak of it again.) _


	3. Post-Conflict Reconstruction (Jaspmuth)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This first bit is owed to a conversation on The Cluster, which happens to be the same server responsible for my very sad bisdot fic and very shmoopy blue pearl/sour cream fic. Those two were specific challenges though, this ones just pure unfettered Talkin’, me mentionin jaspmuth and how it’s My Jam and the illustrious [TheMarkovProperty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMarkovProperty/pseuds/TheMarkovProperty) chiming in with:  
> "I could go for a wartime star cross lovers fic  
> where Bismuth keeps trying to convince her to defect and "be her own gem"  
> they meet on the battlefield and fight to a draw  
> all the tropes  
> Jasper's all hot and bothered because no one's ever fought her off before  
> she becomes obsessed with finding this gem  
> she's just a builder  
> how dare she fight a quartz soldier?"

There was yelling everywhere, shouting and screaming. Most of it wasn’t words, nor did it seem directed at her, until:

“This one’s coming out good! She’s coming out good!”

“Oh my stars, she’s serious! Help pull her out!”

Her sense of touch arrived after her hearing. There were hands grabbing at her arms, one or two at her face and curling around the back of her neck. Her skin met air. Her head broke free of the rock, and her hair burst up around her.

“Let her down!”

“Give her some space!”

The unfamiliar hands left, and she yanked her arms forward. Her legs launched her from the cliffside, then landed--one knee up, one knee down--with a  _ boom  _ on the ground.

She cracked her eyelids open. She couldn’t see anything but blurry red and orange, flashing lights against hot darkness, and then a smear of green.

Two of the hands were back, one on either side of her face. “Hey! Can you fight?”

“Of course she can fight! Look at the size of her! Just get her out there!”

She opened her eyes fully, and the green in front of her gradually started becoming clear. A face, then a full figure, sharp and focused and probably connected to the hands on her cheeks. She made a sound, low in the back of her throat.

“Listen! Hey!” the green figure commanded, hitting the side of her head. “Can you stand? Can you fight?”

She shoved the hands away and rose to her full height. Her senses were all working at top strength now, and connecting to knowledge. The green faces and hands were peridots, technicians focused on Gem production. The red and orange was sandstone, her Kindergarten, lit by a young yellow sun and darkened by smoke. The shouts and screams and explosions were a battle, not far away, getting nearer with every second. She was here to join that battle. Something was threatening her Diamond, and she was here to defend her.

The enemy soldiers started coming into view. The peridots fled.

Jasper tossed her head back and summoned her helmet as the shouts and screams got louder.

* * *

After the battle, it was quiet. It had lasted throughout the sun going down and coming up again; now the sun was staked just off the center of the sky, casting short shadows and piercing heat onto the desert. The only sounds to be heard were a trio of footsteps on the sand and the faint call of some small Earth creatures overhead.

Jasper caught a glimpse of something shimmering, a little bigger than the glittery dust that was mixing with the sand. She nudged it with the toe of her boot, then bent and picked it up. A light blue quartz, its cut hard to distinguish through the lace of cracks across its surface.

“Ours or theirs?”

Jasper glanced up at her agate, standing a few feet away. She held up the blue quartz. “Doesn’t matter. It’s cracked.”

“Shame.” Laguna Agate sniffed and waved a gloved hand. “Put her out of her misery.”

A nod. Jasper clenched her fist around the gem until she felt a  _ crunch _ . She opened her hand and let the tiny fragments fall to the ground, then used her other hand to brush off any leftover powder.

The third Gem there, another jasper--a twiggy, lean, defective one--gave the smallest grimace.

_ (I'm not sure exactly where this scene was going to go, but probably Jasper wanders away a little and encounters Bismuth alone and they have their meetcute. And then various falling-in-love stuff happens up until _ _ markov chimed in again with “oh my god. what IF. we can make this angsty” and i said “uh oh” and markov said: _

_ "what if Jasper decided to defect _

_ she was to meet Bismuth some place _

_ but Bismuth never showed _

_ because Rose poofed her _

_ and that's what Jasper means when she says no one ever stays" _

_ and that's as far as we got there.  _

_ The next bits I actually wrote long long before this, back around the time right after the episode Bismuth first aired, and I never really got around to actually connecting the stories but I kept them on the same document anyway. This follows the gals connecting after the series. and apparently I'm real bad at predicting how the series was gonna end. And also real bad at actually understanding jasper's character. oh well I triiiiiiiiied) _

* * *

At first, she was a star--and not just any, but the biggest, brightest star in the sky. Too bright to look at and too hot to touch, but perfect to be admired from afar. Radiant, brilliant, luminous, lustrous, perfect perfect perfect.

Then came the first stage of a star’s death: supernova. Her core broke and she exploded outward, burning brighter and hotter than ever before, but leaving so much destruction in her wake. But she didn’t care who she was hurting, of course--they suffered because it’s what they deserved. She was just the hands of fate.

But the thing about a supernova is that as spectacularly as it burns, it just as spectacularly burns out. And now she’s a black hole, folding and falling and closing and collapsing in and in and in and in on herself. Dark, dark, heavy, lonely, crushing. Inescapable.

She won’t suck anyone in to be crushed with her. Not anymore. She suffers because it’s what she deserves. And this? Is something that nobody else deserves.

* * *

Jasper scratched her arm. The blue spots still stood out against the orange; at this point she’d almost accepted that they would be there forever. Steven had done his best in healing her, but the fus--no,  _ Garnet _ \--was right: the rest would have to come on her own.

“Watch your step, it’s a little--” Steven warned.

“I know this terrain better than you do,” Jasper growled. She immediately winced a little at her own voice. Another lingering symptom she hadn’t quite gotten used to--she sounded like a monster even when there was no intended aggression in her tone.

Steven pulled back the hand he’d attempted to offer her. “You’ve been here before?”

“My platoon and I spent decades in these mountains trying to get into your forge.” Jasper kicked a large rock out of her way, sending it tumbling off the edge of the walkway. “Even after you built the warp and the path.”

“Yeah, Bismuth’s the only one who can open the door,” Steven replied calmly.

“It was too well-guarded to even get to the door,” Jasper said. “Closest we ever came, your smith had already been missing for months and your troops had set up a trap. I was the only one who made it out.”

Steven stopped walking. They’d reached the door, an edge of cubed stone carved out of rock that looked like it had been melted and re-hardened.

“This is a bad idea,” Jasper stated flatly.

“Nonono, it’ll be fine!” Steven’s hands waved back and forth as he tried hurriedly to defend the plan. “You both have some bad memories from the war, so you both can get over them by talking it out with each other.”

“If she tries to convert me to any of your Crystal Gem dogma, I’ll turn her into gravel,” Jasper replied.

Steven wasn’t fazed by the threat; instead, he chuckled. “What dogma? All the Crystal Gems believe in is life and death and love and birth an--”

“Don’t sing.” Then, as an afterthought: “Please.”

Steven’s lips moved like he was about to pout, but he was interrupted by the stone before him rumbling. The cube split in half to reveal another block behind it, which did likewise until a deep tunnel had opened into the mountain.

Jasper’s muscles pulled taut, instinctively preparing for a fight. But then Steven sighed, and she forced herself to relax. 

“Look, there’s no room for you at the temple or the barn, or Centi’s ship anymore, so this is the next thing on this list,” he said, turning to her. “I guarantee that nothing will go wrong from just...giving it a try.”

Jasper didn't say anything--no agreement, no argument. She crossed her arms and glanced away. Steven could do whatever he wanted. She didn't care. She could just...find some other cave somewhere around here and live by herself. It was probably better to be away from any other Gems anyway.

“I’m gonna take that as an okay.” Steven stuck his thumb up and his tongue out, then started hopping down into the tunnel. Jasper scratched her arm again and hesitantly followed.

At the bottom of the stairs, the forge's proper door opened.

Jasper had really only seen Bismuth once before, and from a distance. A massive five-eyed, rainbow-haired fusion had just laid waste to three battalions; through the smoke and the dust, Jasper had managed to see its components break apart and begin

congratulating each other. Bright dreadlocks and broad shoulders had been the only details she could fully make out. But up close…

The dreadlocks were much brighter. The shoulders were much broader. A star, like the current Crystal Gems’ insignia, adorned her left bicep. She was working on something, making some sort of weapon--a sword?--with her back to the door. A light sheen of sweat shimmered over gray-blue skin; round, defined muscles rolled underneath. An impressive sight, to say the least.

To say the most, actually. Impressive, that was all.

She turned. An eyebrow raised.

“Well, well, well,” Bismuth said, hefting the sword onto her shoulder. “Steven told me he’d be bringin’ a mildly troubled friend to come meet me, but I figured it’d be little blue.”

Jasper frowned.

“Oh, Lapis?” Steven chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, she probably wouldn’t take very well to seeing you.”

“So you thought Beta baby would be better,” Bismuth said, skeptical.

This time Jasper’s growl was completely deliberate.

Steven stepped between them. “Uhh, why don't you guys introduce yourselves to each other!”

“I’m Bismuth. But you know that.” She held out her free hand for Jasper to take. “Cut 2XF, if that sorta thing’s important to you.”

Jasper didn’t accept the hand. “Is there space for me to stay here or not?”

“Long as you don’t mess with my stuff,” Bismuth shrugged, stepping back.

_ (And then I got bored. I can't do slow burns. I get tired of people not liking each other. So I skipped to the fluff where they're friends and also a bit of ye olde mutual pining.) _

* * *

“Would you hold still?”

“You’re getting my hair stuck in the--ow!”

“Ultimate Quartz is just a Beta  _ baby _ after all,” Bismuth teased, pulling a few strands of white hair free of the helmet’s hinge. “Steven’s coming over soon. You won’t want him to see you squirmin’ and squealin’, do ya?”

“I’m not--rrr--are you almost done?”

“I  _ was  _ almost done, and then you yanked away again.” 

Bismuth ran her hands along the bottom edge of the helmet, pulling Jasper’s hair into a makeshift ponytail. Jasper held still. If she just let her hair get tied up, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it getting stuck in anything anymore.

Besides, it...it didn’t feel that bad now that Bismuth wasn’t trying to aggressively force her hair into place. Now she was being considerably more gentle, guiding the wild locks into a single thick braid, her knuckles close against the back of Jasper’s neck. Somehow Bismuth’s hands were warmer than the heat of the forge itself.

Or maybe that was just because she was touching a blue spot. Those stains on her skin were always a little bit colder than the rest of her.

“Y’know, I’ve always had a soft spot for quartz hair,” Bismuth said.

Jasper resisted the urge to turn her head to see Bismuth’s expression.

“All big and scary and soft at the same time. Sometimes a couple quartzes would try sparring in an arena I was still workin’ on, and I’d almost start slacking off cus I couldn’t stop starin’ at their hair. Drove our agate nuts--almost got me poofed a couple times.” She chuckled. “But I always wanted to try and see what it felt like. Never thought I’d ever get the chance, until…”

She trailed off.

“Until Rose,” Jasper finished. 

“Yeah.”

Bismuth’s hands pulled further away from Jasper’s back as the braid got longer. The back of her neck felt even more cold now. 

Then the braid dropped against her back. “Steven’s here.”

Jasper turned, her hair shifting over her shoulder. Bismuth's gem glowed to open the door, making the whole forge rumble for a second; soon the sound was replaced by Steven calling out their names in a sing-song voice as he descended the stairs.

“--Bis-muth, Jas-per, Jas-muth, Bis-per--”

“Ste-ven, Ste-ven,” Bismuth echoed, smiling. “What’s new?”

Steven slid through the door. “I just felt like coming over to say hi.” 

“Yeah? How’s the rest of the fam doing?” Bismuth asked as she shifted back over to her workbench. Her hands returned to Jasper’s hair.

Steven hefted himself up onto the edge of the anvil Jasper was sitting on, and she lifted her legs up onto the other side to balance him out. It’d been a long time since he was truly scared of her, but she still pulled her shoulders as far from touching him as she could--just as a precaution.

“They’re good,” Steven conversed, shrugging. “Amethyst has been hanging out at the barn a lot with Peridot and--Pumpkin. I think she’s trying to teach them s’more ways to use all their vegetables and stuff.”

Jasper held in a scoff, but did give Bismuth a glance. Bismuth quirked her eyebrows in understanding. Pumpkin wasn’t the other patron of the barn Amethyst was visiting--Lapis was.

“I think I know what Amethyst’s really there for. I’ve seen the way she looks at that Peridot,” Bismuth teased, steering Jasper’s train of thought away from things she didn’t want to think about. 

Steven smiled and tapped his chin. “Well, yeah, I think they’ve been being girlfriends for a while now.” His brow furrowed. “Do Gems really... _ do ‘ _ girlfriends’? It doesn’t really seem like the right word for it.”

“Define it for me.” Bismuth tugged on Jasper’s braid a little to signify that it was completed, then rested her elbow on her shoulder to lean comfortably while their guest explained.

“Well, it’s when you’re in love. When you’re a couple. You spend most all of your time together, and you kiss and hold hands and stuff, and you’ve got a special bond that’s different than all your other friends. But it’s really mostly a human thing. I guess before they got married Ruby and Sapphire were girlfriends? Or me and Connie, or you two--”

Jasper felt her spots shift.

She coughed, turning her face away from Steven.

Bismuth laughed out loud, leaning more heavily on Jasper’s shoulder. “Did you just compare me and Jasper to Ruby and Sapphire?”

“Kind of?” Steven conceded. “You two are kind of girlfriends, right? I mean, you live together, and you hang out a lot, and do nice things for each other--”

“Hm, what do you say, tiger?” Bismuth teased. “Are we girlfriends?”

“If it’s a ‘human thing’, then no,” Jasper said, folding her arms.

Bismuth shrugged. “Fair enough. Amethyst and Peri seem pretty into human stuff, though.”

“True, true.” Steven nodded sagely. “I guess they are girlfriends, then.”

“Then you’ll have to give ‘em congrats from me when you see them again.” 

_ (And then I got bored again and skipped from fluff to angst cus that's my faaaave. Includes a touch of very bad rough notes that I did not fix and they will break the immersion of the story, you've been warned.) _

* * *

“What does it feel like?”

Jasper looked up. Bismuth’s voice was softer and lower than normal. She was facing away from Jasper, idly swirling a half-finished sword in lava.

“What?” Jasper asked.

“Corruption.”

A burn itched along the surface of Jasper’s skin, the spots and the spines. She dipped her head, letting her hair fall over the trio of horns there.

“I don’t remember.”

“C’mon,” Bismuth pressed, turning her head. “You can’t just forget all that time.”

“What do you care?” Jasper snipped. 

Bismuth dropped her gaze back to the sword. “My friends. The Crystal Gems. They were all...like that. For a few thousand years.” She shrugged. “I guess I’d just feel better if I knew they weren’t in too much pain or anything.”

“No. It doesn’t hurt,” Jasper said. She drew her legs up onto the bench and sat cross-legged. “Not after the fact.”

“But getting corrupted does,” Bismuth interpreted.

_ “My Diamond--your Diamond--” _

“Yeah.”

Bismuth pulled the sword out and set it down, her eyes on Jasper. “Then what?”

“Then it goes foggy. You can’t think, you can’t see, you can barely hear.”

Her fingernails drifted to her opposite shoulder. It didn’t really itch, but--

“It’s just find out what’s happening and react to it, you fight it or you run away or you get a rod through your chest. And all you remember is the last thing that happened to you. The worst thing that happened to you.”

Bismuth frowned. “It can’t be that bad when you’re getting healed, though, right?”

“Sometimes it’s better. Sometimes it’s worse.” Jasper had her arms crossed tightly now, both hands on both shoulders. “Some days you can see what’s around you, and some 

days all you can see is Rose Quartz and you know that this is all her fault and it’s all your own fault, too--”

Bismuth flinched.

Unnoticing, Jasper dug her fingers and nails harder into her shoulders. They were growing, stinging, sharpening with every word she spoke, but she couldn’t stop herself now. “Talky talky pain and suffering--”

She clawed, she pulled. Her hands curled and her back arched.

“--and more pain and more suffering and tension rises--”

“Stop scratching your arms!” Bismuth suddenly yelled, grabbing Jasper’s hand.

Jasper reacted. She stood and shoved Bismuth away. She raised an arm to strike.

“No! I don’t want to fight you!”

Bismuth caught Jasper’s wrist with her own.

Jasper growled. “What  _ do  _ you want?”

“I want you to stop hurting yourself!” Bismuth declared. “And I want you to stop thinking like you deserve it!”

“What do you care what happens to me?” Jasper snarled.

“I care because I care about you!” Bismuth had a hold on both of Jasper’s wrists now, and was holding them tight. “And not just because of your fighting! You’re better than that!”

Jasper’s shoulders lowered. Her face loosened--not quite enough to stop being angry, but enough to listen.

“I care about you because you already know you can change. Because you’re already changing,” Bismuth said. “You let Steven become your friend, you let him heal you, you let me into your life. Because you suffered a lot during the war and after the war and you’re getting over it. Because you teach me things I might have never even considered otherwise. Because every single day you choose and try to be better than you were the day before.” She smiled, pulling stronger on the right side of her mouth than the left. “Because you’ve got the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen.”

“What does that matter?” Jasper glanced down at her spots and spines. “What use am I like this?”

“That’s Homeworld talk. That’s wrong.”

“I am not a Crystal Gem!”

“But you are a Gem!” Bismuth threw back. “You’ve got thoughts and feelings and potential and choices that nobody can take away from you. So stop trying to be what Homeworld wants you to be and do what  _ you  _ want.”

_ What do you want? _

Jasper let out a breath; drew another one in, let it out.

She looked up at Bismuth.

_ What do you want? _

Bismuth looked back at her, eyes sincere and earnest and caring and...loving. She wasn’t holding Jasper’s wrists as tightly now, but wasn’t letting go.

_ Do what  _ you  _ want. _

They both moved forward in the same breath.

It wasn’t quick or powerful or dramatic, coming in for the kiss. It was gradual--forehead touched forehead, gem touched skin, mouth touched mouth. 

_ (wanted to make the kiss last longer. no idea how. woops. bis gets handsy I guess.) _

Jasper broke away with a breathless whisper. “Careful of--”

“Careful of what?” Bismuth chuckled.

“Of my--”

She opened her eyes and looked at her arms.

There was nothing there but stripes of orange and hands of gray.

“The--the spikes--” she stammered, eyes darting from one arm to the other. She lifted her hands and flipped them over. Nothing there. Her hands jumped up to her face--nothing there. “The corruption--”

“It’s all gone,” Bismuth said, grinning. “You’re all healed, Beta baby.”

Jasper dropped her hands and stared at Bismuth. 

“You healed me.”

Bismuth shook her head. “You healed yourself.”

* * *

_ (aaaand I honestly have no idea what the last part is but the style's pretty so whatever) _

They fused twice. Once on accident, once on purpose. Neither of the times lasted very long.

The first time, they had just been casually talking, maybe wrestling a little, maybe kissing a little, and had suddenly melted together. She was huge, almost too big to fit in the forge. She barely had time to realize what she was--who she was--before Jasper yanked away for fear of holding on too tight. After all the trouble it had caused her, she never wanted to fuse again.

But Bismuth did. She knew Jasper was different now--she knew she’d grown and she knew she could handle it. And neither of them could deny how good it felt to be so big and strong and close and complete...and besides, come on, they  _ had  _ to show Steven.

The second time, they were outside, and Steven was watching; Amethyst had tagged along too, and brought popcorn. When they brought their fusion to life again, she was glad to arrive. If she showed off a bit, who could blame her?

And if she broke apart again and vowed to be gone forever at the first, slightest sign of fear from Steven...well. Who could blame her?


	4. St Peter's Basilica (Pearlrose) (Very Old)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally just some gays being sad and a pretty description. Wrote it in like 2016.

The funeral is long. Pearl is patient.

She has to be patient, of course, all pearls do. Pearls are meant to wait patiently without complaining or fidgeting while their owners sit through meeting after ceremony after appointment, no matter what. It’s how she was made.

But, of course, this is different. This is her choice. Pearl  _ is  _ patient, not because that’s how she was made but because that’s how she’s chosen to be. For Rose.

The funeral is long, and solemn, and quiet, and after it ends Rose lingers. Pearl lingers beside her.

The ceiling of the church rises high above them, the whole building an incredible work of art. Every breath seems to echo all around them. Even the sunlight through the stained-glass windows echoes, taking presence without form or shape or sound. 

Rose stands still before the altar, head bowed, eyes closed. In all this space even she seems small, yet somehow her image fills every inch of the scene. All her lightness and softness and pinkness, heavy with grief and guilt. Half of Pearl thinks it might be just a symptom of the setting—this whole chapel is heavy with grief and guilt. 

Pearl speaks, and her voice echoes.

“How do you feel?”

Rose doesn’t lift her head, but opens her eyes. The shadow of her hair is over them, almost-but-not-quite hiding them from view.

“I don’t know.”

“You haven’t cried at all,” Pearl says softly.

“There wouldn’t be a use. There’s nothing left to heal.”

Silence rises between them again. Pearl cuts across it by holding her hand out beside her. Rose takes it and holds it tight.

“Hmh,” Rose almost chuckles, almost smiles. She squeezes Pearl’s hand. “I still have you, though, don’t I?”

“And you always will,” Pearl replies.

Rose sighs. 

“I’m sorry,” she says.

_ (I'm sorry too. That's a really pretty description up there, though.) _


	5. Here From A Beer Commercial (Pearl/Lapis)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearlapis fusion thing that didn’t really come from anywhere & didn’t really go anywhere. The title refers to the youtube comments on the song Saltwater by Geowulf and I literally just barely picked it out of my nose bcus...saltwater  
> Features the first appearance of my headcanon seen in "Still Here" that Pearl has a geology book meant just for picking out fusion names!

_ “Pearl!” _

_ She’s tall. She’s sharp. There’s a ringing in her ears. _

_ “Pearl, let go!” _

_ There’s rubble and dust all around her--she’s the one who made it that way. She’s strong. Stars, she’s strong, she’s never been this powerful before. _

_ “It’s over! Let go of her!” _

_ Why would she want to let go of this? _

_ Wait. Where’s Steven? Is Steven safe? _

* * *

“Your room’s full of water.”

Startled, Pearl yelped and almost dropped her book. She caught it quickly and stood up.

“Oh, hello, Lapis,” she said, turning to face her. “It’s not real water. That would damage most of the things I store in here.”

Lapis swirled a finger in the pool she sat in--she must’ve come up from Amethyst’s room. “Why don’t you just keep everything in your gem?”

“Hah,” Pearl chuckled. “If you could see how crowded it is in there--”

“I kinda have seen inside there,” Lapis deadpanned. “Yknow, the whole mirror thing.”

Pearl’s smile shrank. “Right.”

After an awkward half-second, Pearl sat back down--prim and proper and cross-legged--and reopened her book. “I’ve been thinking about a name for our fusion. I know we didn’t have much time to get to know her, and I don’t think there’s really any precedent for us to follow, but--”

“Chrysocolla.”

Pearl looked up. “What?”

“A lapis lazuli fused with a pearl is called Chrysocolla,” Lapis said.

“Wha--how would--?”

Lapis waved a dismissive hand. “It was in a facet pretty far away from where you main Crystal Gems were fighting at the time, but--”

“Hold on,” Pearl scoffed. “You’re not telling me that  _ you  _ fused with a  _ pearl  _ during the war.”

“No,” Lapis scowled. “I wasn’t the only lapis lazuli sent to Earth. There were three of us, until one decided to get flirty with this pretty green runaway and turned traitor.”

Pearl cleared her throat, uncomfortable. “I see.”

She flipped through her book until she found chrysocolla, a familiar pale teal stone. It was a hydrated copper phyllosilicate mineral, typically found as botryoidal or rounded masses and crusts, closely related to malachite. It fit.

She glanced again at Lapis, still lounging in that pool and entertaining herself with ripples she made with her finger.

“Is there something else you came in here for?” Pearl asked, closing the book.

“I don’t know,” Lapis shrugged. “I got bored watching Amethyst and Peridot fawn over each other.”

“I suppose that’s fair, but--” A self-deprecating smirk. “I was under the impression I was pretty boring, too.”

“And I wanted to ask you something.”

The smirk disappeared. “Yes?”

Lapis lifted herself out of the pool and stood on top of it. She lifted her head and looked Pearl dead in the eye, for the first time since arriving. “Why did Garnet yell at you to let go and not me?”

“Oh. Erm--well.” Pearl ran her fingertips along the edge of the book. “That’s a bit of a long story. And...not one I’m proud of.”

Lapis frowned. Pearl blushed, hesitating.

“Suffice it to say I’ve had my own...vices, when it comes to fusion,” she said dismissively. “Garnet most likely focused on me more than you simply because she knows me better.”

“Seriously?” Lapis scoffed, folding her arms. “There is no way that your ‘vices’ come close to any of the stunts I’ve pulled.”

“Well, I don’t want to go into more detail, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.” Pearl held her book up to her forehead, and it shimmered briefly before disappearing into her gem. “Is that all?”

“Tell me.” Lapis’s glare hardened. “You’re still a pearl. Do what I tell you to.”

Pearl glared right back, lip curling in indignation. “Ex _ cuse  _ me, but the fact that I’m a pearl doesn’t change anything. You can get out of my room if you’re going to be disrespectful.”

“If I get Steven to tell you to--”

“I don’t belong to Steven!” Pearl erupted, face flaring blue. “I don’t belong to anyone! And I  _ don’t  _ take orders from anyone! Got it?”

“Oh, sure, but you were fine giving  _ me _ orders for a thousand years, huh?” Lapis shot back. “Back when you acted like I was just a stupid mirror, even though I was  _ obviously _ in there--”

“Gems in objects aren't supposed to be conscious. Besides, you were cracked--”

“You could've healed me. You had Rose Quartz with you the whole time. It wouldn’t’ve been that hard.”

“We didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“You are not! If you were sorry you’d--”

“Forget it,” Pearl snapped. “Get out of my room.”

“You’re not even gonna--”

_ “Please  _ get out of my room.”

Lapis stepped back and spread her wings. “You’re right. You are boring.”


	6. A Break In Routine pt. 2 (Yellow Diamond)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the most complete of all of these! However. I got bored. It's a continuation of my previous fic of Yellow Diamond's thoughts throughout the show, told via the voice of Pink Diamond. You got Message Received and everything she was up to before that; now here's That Will Be All, most of The Trial, and Reunited. Picking up directly after "You've done all you can."

But the others, in your eyes, don’t seem to be doing anything at all.

Not long after that little spot of trouble, Blue Diamond’s ship is reported to be heading to Earth. You ignore it. It can’t have been the first time she’s gone off to have one of her little episodes, pointlessly crying over this or that old artifact of mine. But if she’s got any smarts at all she’ll leave that planet soon, and leave it for good. You’d have much less remorse in murmuring “I told you so” if she ended up getting caught by the Cluster.

(You know, of course, that I don’t want you to resent her. She’s mourning, just like you are, and all I ever wanted was my family to be happy. But I know you well enough--you can’t really help it, can you?)

Out of the corner of your eye, though, you watch her. She doesn’t stay on Earth very long--fortunately; when she returns, she goes straight to my old facility, my old zoo. She doesn’t stay there very long either. For a brief moment you let yourself believe she’s about to move on--

\--but no, there she is, going right back to the zoo again.

You know, of course. She needs help. She needs  _ your  _ help--and you need hers. Neither of you can keep pretending you can do this on your own.

Go to her, Yellow. You knew her better, loved her better than I ever could.

* * *

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

You step into the room. 

“You only just left and you’re already back?”

You can’t help it. You’re tired. She’s being ridiculous and you’ve been working too hard, and it makes you snappish.

“Yellow!” She straightens, hurriedly wiping tears. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to bring you back to reality, Blue,” you say, striding towards her. The ceiling is cluttered with bubbles, pink within pink within pink, and even just the sight of the color makes your insides clench.

“I’m  _ fine _ ,” she insists, turning away from you. “Just--leave me alone.”

Curling a lip in disgust, you wave your hand at the floating orbs around you. “It’s been thousands of years, Blue, and you still can’t bring yourself to destroy these Gems?” you say. “She was  _ shattered  _ by a rose quartz--the entire cut of Gems deserves the same fate!”

“But they were hers--”

“They should be wiped out of existence, not kept safe in bubbles!”

“Yellow, she made them,” she maintains. “This is all we have left of her. These Gems, this place, and the Earth.”

You don’t listen. “I thought we agreed we need to put that planet and this whole debacle behind us.”

“Why can’t you just let me grieve?”

“You can’t keep coming here forever!”

“Why not?!”

You sigh. This isn’t how you wanted this to go. You knew it would end up with the two of you arguing, that’s how it always ends up. But why can’t she see that you just want what’s best for her?

“Pearl. Do something,” you try. “Sing for her. Make her feel better.”

Pearl excitedly snaps into obedience. “Yes, my Diamond.  _ Ahem _ .”

Blue’s pearl is slacking just as much as her master is. Your pearl clears her throat again, and the other one lazily comes to attention. They sing the usual tune, the one you all use to forget things and let your worries disappear so you can get back to work--ah, but it isn’t working, Blue’s still frowning.

It’s up to you, then. 

You’d better talk some sense into her.

“Why,” you sing, “would you want to be here? What do you ever see here that doesn’t make you feel worse than you do? Tell me, what’s the use of feeling, Blue?”

She looks away. You stand straighter. 

“Why would you want to employ her subjects that destroyed her? Why keep up her silly zoo--oh, tell me--what’s the use of feeling, Blue?”

She’s still avoiding your gaze, still frowning and letting tears fall. She won’t listen to reason--make her see reason--

“An army has a use--they can go and fight a war. A sapphire has a use--she can tell you what it’s for. An agate terrifies, a lapis terraforms--”

She retreats from you and clings to a pillar; relentless, you follow her.

“Where’s their Diamond when they need her, Blue?” you accuse. “You’ve got to be a leader, Blue!”

Yes, of course we still love her, and we’re always thinking of her--but now there’s nothing we can do! So tell me what’s the use of feeling, what’s the use of feeling, what’s the use of feeling, Blue?

“Oh…” You drop into a seat. “How can you stand to be here with it all?

_ “Here with it all,”  _ the pearls sing, right on step, right on time, right behind you as proper pearls should be.

“Drowning in all this regret...wouldn’t you rather forget her? Oh--”

Despite everything, you smile.

“Won’t it be grand to get rid of it all? Let’s make a plan of attack--start looking forward and stop looking back, oh--

“Yes, of course, we still love her, and we’re always thinking of her--” You bend to take Blue’s hand and pull her to her feet. “Don’t you know I miss her--”

Oh, no. You spin away. Blue can’t see your face like this.

“--too?”

By the  _ stars _ , how you miss her.

“But--

tell me...what’s the use of feeling--”

No. Your leg starts to buckle underneath you, and you step forward to hide it. No, no, no--another stumble, another step--

“--what’s the use--of feeling--”

no no no you can’t have a breakdown not here not now you’re so tired but not here not now no no no

“--whatstheuseoffeeling--”

You catch yourself and squeeze your eyes shut. Calm down, calm down. Hum your tune and let it wash things away.

Blue’s hand is on your back, and you don’t shrug it off. The irony isn’t lost on you, of course--you came here to comfort her and now you’re making her be the one to comfort you. But you can’t bring yourself to fight it now. 

The door opens. You snap up out of your self-pity-- _ stupid, stupid self-pity-- _ and return to the image you must maintain.

“And we have arrived. That will be all, Pearl.” An agate strides in, haughty and proud and pretending she’s good enough to be acting so arrogant in the presence of a Diamond. Well, perhaps she’s just acting this way because Blue’s been slacking in keeping up her own image. When she opens her eyes and sees you, she’ll shape up.

“My Diamond--my gracious, wondrous, luminous, lustrous Diamond--s!”

_ There it is.  _ You roll your eyes.

“Oh, my! It’s truly an honor to bask in your radiances!”

“Get to the point, Agate,” you snap.

She clears her throat. “Yes, of course. My deepest apologies.” She steps back to show a smaller pair of Gems, a sapphire and her guard. “You’ll be pleased to know that your sapphire has completed your special delivery.”

Blue turns. “What special delivery?”

“Um--” The agate’s smile falters the slightest bit. “The special delivery you requested from Earth, of course.”

“I never asked any sapphire to go to Earth.”

Sapphire trembles. “I--um--”

Hm. Sapphires are usually more composed than this. 

“My future vision foresaw you, my Diamond, desiring more humans for the zoo,” she finally manages to explain. “So I acted accordingly.”

After a moment, Blue wilts, ashamed. “It’s true. The window for preserving Earth specimens is closing.”

“Is  _ that  _ what you want?” If collecting humans is all it will take to make her happy again, then perhaps there is something you can do to help. “Sapphire, has the Cluster emerged yet?”

“No, it has not.”

“Then there’s still time. That will be all.”

You clap twice. The agate bows and begins to depart. “My Diamonds.”

As they leave, you circle an arm around Blue’s waist, turning her away from the door.

“I’ll send a mission down to retrieve a few varieties for you. There’s a report somewhere with a list of them,” you murmur to her. “A pair of topazes should do well.”

“Send an aquamarine as well,” Blue orders without looking up. “Just to be sure.”

“That won’t be necessary--”

“Her jasper is still missing.”

You manage to avoid tightening your grip on her--you won’t let your surprise show. It’s been months since you sent that little mission to check on the Cluster, and so far you assumed Blue didn’t know about it. But she’s right--Jasper never returned, and neither did the lapis informing her, and neither did any of the rubies you sent after her.

Blue had been hesitant to let Jasper into your court in the first place. She wanted to keep her here, locked away safe with the rest of my little treasures. But you just couldn’t resist such a warrior, could you?--you never could. And now she’s gone--maybe forever, maybe she was destroyed along with the ship.

“Whoever you send, I want them to have extra protection,” Blue insists. “The highest we have.”

Or maybe…

You certainly remember that many of those original traitors were my Gems. Not just my precious firstborn, my Rose Quartz, but hundreds of my amethysts and rubies and obsidians. Was it simply being born of Earth that made them so  _ defective _ ? And if your peridot--a  _ good  _ peridot, a skilled and loyal and specialized technician chosen from  _ your  _ court for such an important mission--had managed to find a reason to rebel...how much more reason could Jasper find?

“Fine,” you say distractedly, removing your hand from her waist. “But if you want an aquamarine, you’ll have to come back home and assign her yourself. I’m going to  _ insist  _ on sticking to my own court from now on.”

Oh, Yellow. You aren’t still going to blame me for my own demise, are you? You aren’t still going to think I was just too incompetent to control my own subjects? Too silly, too new, too foolish, too small? Too defective?

Come on. We both know you’d much rather blame yourself. Too blind. Too slow. Too weak. Too inactive.

You shake your head as you leave Blue alone in my room, as if you can rattle all these thoughts from your mind. You don’t like hearing my voice in your head all the time, do 

you? Even though you know it’s not really me--even though you know perfectly well that I’m dead and gone, and this voice is really just your own self taunting your own silly self. But what you told Blue is true. You’re always thinking of me, whether you want to or not.

Hurry up and fetch those new humans for me, won’t you?

* * *

They found her.

The aquamarine and topazes return. Not with humans, but with _her._ The Gem who started this whole affair, who put Blue in this sorry state to begin with. They found her. They've got her.

Rose Quartz.

You'd like to squeeze her stone to nothingness between your fingers right now, but of course, for major and heinous crimes, the system can only continue functioning properly if the accused stands trial before execution. That way, there's no confusion, no mistakes, no falsehoods. No exceptions. All for the good of the empire.

Or at least, that's what you keep saying. In reality, it's just that Blue's demanding one--something about proper closure, understanding. But it's fine. It'll be a quick trial, and Blue will be satisfied, and Rose Quartz will be crushed to shards to gravel to dust, and everything will finally be as perfect as it can possibly be once again.

Unless Blue decides to draw the trial out for some reason. She has been doing a lot of pacing and thinking lately. Which is silly--pacing and thinking is your job. Blue's supposed to be…

You pause in your own pacing. Funny. Blue's been doing nothing for so long that you almost can't think of what she is supposed to be doing.

She's supposed to be a Diamond. You're supposed to be a Diamond. Pink was supposed to be a Diamond.

(If I can't do it and Blue can't do it, what makes you think you should be able? What makes you think you're so much better than us?)

“I am so much better,” you mutter to yourself.

Yellow. Darling. Come on.

A high-pitched voice clears its throat behind you. You turn.

“The trial is nearly ready to commence, my Diamond,” your pearl announces.

You exhale. “Good. Thank you, Pearl.”

One single strand of hair dangles in front of your eyes. You sweep it up into place.

“I suppose Blue's needing to be collected, isn't she?”

“Yes, my Diamond.”

You square your shoulders and stand up as straight as you can. “Very well.”

Pearl flourishes into a dramatic salute, and you're transported to Blue's preparation chamber. She turns to you without a word but your name and slides her arms around your waist, her head falling into the crook of your shoulder.

You hesitate.

Gently, you push her arms down. “Blue, do look presentable.”

She looks up at you without lifting her head. For a moment her hands hang awkward at her sides. Then she looks down and poisedly poses her fingers on a rhombus shape.

You inhale and stand up straighter than before.

“On with it, then.”

The pearls disappear to announce your arrival. You close your eyes.

When you open them again, you're in the courtroom, standing above the pearls, two zircons, and...some tiny, squishy meat creature. You squint a little and glance around--no one else is present.

Blue stands up. “Where is...the accused?”

You look back down at the meat creature (the meature, your little Pink would whisper, and you'd stifle a snort and roll your eyes and I'd giggle at you--if I were here, if not for--). 

“Is  _ that... _ Rose Quartz?!”

Sure enough, the meature moves in response to the name. On longer look, you suppose there is some resemblance--the curly hair, the black eyes, the wide build. It's just... _ eugh. _

“Look at this hideous form she's taken!” you say, all thoughts of systems and demands flying from your head. “Forget the trial--we should shatter her just for looking like that.”

You're almost joking, but Blue takes it very seriously. “No. I want to hear her make her case.”

She steps forward.

“I want to know what she thinks we're going to do with her,” she says, voice dropping. “Because I want to do something worse.”

Cruel. Unnecessary, of course--Rose Quartz will be shattered and that's the end of it. But you haven't seen this side of Blue for a while; cruelty is better than moping, at least.

“Fine.” You summon your chairs. “Let's just get on with it, shall we?”

The prosecution steps forward. She's one of yours, a standard-issue zircon with a good track record and a little more extra sparkle than her peers. The only downsides are that she's fairly young, and  _ excessively _ sycophantic.

The defense is from Blue's court; you don't know her. Blue said she was her best, no doubt about it, but you wonder. She looks even younger than yours, maybe three or four thousand at most, and she's sweating and shrinking like a shaky little calcite.

“My Diamond!” the prosecution begins. “My brilliant, opulent, radiant, glimmering--”

“‘My Diamond’ will suffice, or we'll never get through this,” you cut her off. Does no one want this done quickly as possible as you do? You're almost twitching with impatience.

The prosecution clears her throat. 

_ (And this is where I skip to the part that I really really Really like) _

“State your name for the record, please.”

“I’m--I’m Rose Quartz. And I’m guilty.”

She lifts the hem of her upper covering to reveal her gemstone--a reddish-pink, five-faceted circle.

And you jolt a little--because for all the times you’ve seen a rose quartz stone before, you never truly realized how much, in the light, it looked like…

Once--just once, ages and eons ago, when I was even more brand-new--I crossed a line that White found beyond unacceptable, and she had you carry out the punishment. You managed to persuade her not to bubble me (you said “Please--” and she clicked her tongue and said “Oh, sunshine, don’t argue with me; I don’t want to have to punish you, too,” and then she sighed and placed my naked stone in your hand), but it still took far too long for me to reform. For hours upon days upon weeks, you remember, you held that stone in your hands; keeping it safe, keeping it warm, impatiently waiting for me to regenerate. You memorized every detail of every surface of that stone--the shape, the color, the hardness, the luster…

Maybe it’s just the distance, your vision playing tricks on you. Whether or not this thing is really Rose Quartz, it definitely isn’t your little Pink--but you’ll feel better with a chance to investigate. To get this thing over with and rip that stone right out of this disgusting form--

“Ha! Sounds like a solid confession to me!” you proclaim, even though you were barely listening to what Rose Quartz said.

But Blue narrows her eyes, and looks to the accused.

“How?”

Your smile drops.

“How did you do it?” Blue leans forward, hair falling over her shoulders and around her face. “How did you shatter Pink Diamond?”

Rose Quartz hesitates, jaw slack and brow furrowed. “I, uh...I did it on Earth, in front of Pink Diamond’s palanquin. I was probably like, ‘Stop!’ And she was all like, ‘No!’ So...we fought. She probably did some cool moves…”

What in the cosmos? You arch your back forward, gripping the armrests of your chair. What is she saying?

“...I probably had to use the Breaking Point to do it.”

“IT WAS A SWORD!”

You barely have time to process what Rose’s said when a wave of azure crashes over you. In vain you recoil against your seat and squeeze your eyes shut; the tears form regardless, and you rapidly try to blink them away.

This is one of the worst ones. You’ve been caught in her grief a hundred times before, but it hasn’t been this acute for a long time.

“You...shattered her...with a sword.”

In an instant you’re at her side. You gently lay your hands on her shoulders as she crumples into a sob.

“That’s quite enough testimony from  _ you _ ,” you snap at Rose. “We shall take a short recess.” 

With a sharp flick of your hand you send the platform back down. Rose yelps a little-- _ pathetic-- _ and stumbles at the quick descent; once she’s on the floor, she and the zircons and the human disappear to their waiting chambers.

You’re alone. You drop to a knee in front of Blue and take her hands in yours.

“This is exactly why I wanted to get this over with,” you murmur, pushing tears from her face with your thumb. “You’re falling apart.”

Blue pulls her face back from you. “I’m fine.” Her voice still quivers. “It’s just...it’s just too many memories.”

“Then why do you insist on dragging this out more?”

“It just doesn’t seem fair!” Blue exclaims. “How could Rose Quartz have done this? And how can she treat it so lightly now? What does she know that we don’t?”

“We’re going to make it fair.” You take her face in your hands again, palms held tight to the corners of her jaw, eyes of almost-silver trapped fast in almost-gold. “We’ll get to the bottom of this and be done with it forever.”

Blue is silent. She focuses on one of your eyes, then the other. She doesn’t open her mouth.

“Stars, you’re useless.” Impatient, you let her go and return to your seat. “I’m bringing the trial back to order.”

With yet another handwave, the court and criminal return.

“I hope you've composed your case a little better now, Zircon,” you say.

“I have, Your Radiance,” the defense bows, and then launches right into it. “Rose Quartz is flawed, I grant you--a shallow-strata gem who turned on her own kind out of a misguided attachment to a planet and creatures like these.”

For reference, she brings back the skinny little human, and you wish she wouldn't. It's all you can do to resist grimacing at it. It's like a Gem in basic shape, but with no purpose, no polish, no sense, no reasonably cohesive element to its appearance. A Gem with drab and clashing colors; gaudy, loud, scratchy-voiced and patchy-clothed--it's just wrong. Uncanny, uncategorizable, and thus ghastly.

_ (and welp! that's as far as I got with that!) _

* * *

You were right.

You were right all along, the moment you saw that stone at the trial.

The little human figure floats to the ground.

Blue’s voice is soft, fragile, not daring to believe it not daring to trust it not daring to hope--but threatening to overflow and drown you all in joy.

“It’s  _ you…” _

And you don’t take your eyes off that stone.

Hello, darling. How have you been?

_ “Pink!” _


	7. and you would do it again (Pearl) (golly gee i love pearl)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is one I’d really love to see someone else’s take on--I love the concept, but I could never quite write it out! Basically, Bismuth finds/fixes/makes a new Time Thing and gives it to Pearl; Pearl uses it to go back to the war, intending to tell Bismuth the truth about Pink Diamond before she creates the Breaking Point, and meets her younger self. Young Pearl doesn’t recognize Present Pearl as herself and ends up totally enthralled by her, how cool and rebellious and sure of herself she is, and Present Pearl has that awkward mix of “oh she’s so naive and cute and earnest” and “oh my stars was i really like this i am so sorry to everyone who ever interacted with me.”  
> Some stuff happens, probably at some point Present Pearl meets Rose and Bismuth who are similarly enthralled and it’s awkward and angsty in different ways for each of them. In the end Pearl decides not to change the past, to focus on healing and fixing all she can in the present & the future instead, and just has one sweet moment of affirmation and self-love with Young Pearl before she returns.  
> All I have written is the prologue though lol. All these story starts/ideas are free for adoption, but this in particular I’d be super excited to read!!

Rose’s form started flickering as soon as they were underground--Pearl thanked every star in the sky that she’d been able to hold it together until they were out of sight. That amethyst’s halberd had come down far too close, far too fast--

And far too soon. Pink Diamond still wanted to delay taking direct military action against the insurrection--best-case scenario, there’d never be full battle at all. But Yellow had urged her, pushed her, and then Blue had imposed control behind her back, and the Crystal Gems had been forced to fight long before they were ready.

And now Pearl was guiding Rose alone down a dark tunnel and Rose was leaning with nearly all her weight on Pearl’s shoulder, panting and sweating and glitching and crying. A fading trail of glitter flowed from a gash the length of Pearl’s arm in Rose’s stomach, a gash striping from beneath one breast to her opposite hip, missing her gem by barely an inch. Pearl had managed to throw the halberd off enough that the wound wasn’t deep; still, it was a miracle that Rose hadn’t dissipated her form. Any lesser Gem would have.

If Rose dissipated her form, they could find her gem. If anyone found her gem, it was over.

They reached the bottom of the cavern. Pearl gently laid Rose on the ground against the wall and knelt beside her, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers. “We’re safe now, my Diamond.”

With a quick, bright flash, Rose was back in the form of Pink Diamond. She groaned and curled inward--her torso was narrower now, but the gash stayed the same length.

“It’s alright,” Pearl soothed, reaching up and gently wiping tears from Rose’s cheeks--even in her true form, she was still Rose in Pearl’s mind, constantly and permanently. “It’s going to be alright.”

She lightly ran her tear-wet hand along Rose’s wound. Slowly, painstakingly, the gash began to close.

“If only it were easier for you to heal yourself,” Pearl almost-joked, smiling sideways.

Rose grimaced, eyelids fluttering, and said nothing. Pearl’s smile fell.

“M--” She hesitated. The gash now looked like a scar, a line rather than a cut, but it didn’t shrink any further. “Maybe we should go to the fountain. That could help you a little faster.”

“No,” Rose coughed out. “Garnet and Bismuth can’t see me like this. They can’t--”

She cut herself off with another groan. Pearl’s hard-light heart skipped with worry.

“You’re in pain. I can’t let you stay hurt!”

“I’m fine!” Rose squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “Please, I’m fine. We’ll just stay here awhile. They can’t know.”

“But maybe if they knew, they could help,” Pearl tried. 

“But they wouldn’t. What would they say?” There were fresh tears in Rose’s eyes now, and somehow Pearl could tell they weren’t just from the physical pain. “If they knew that I was the whole reason for all of this...Biggs and Serpentine were nearly  _ shattered.  _ And Turquoise...”

She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Biting her lip, Pearl collected the new tears and rubbed them on the scar.

“I can’t imagine how much they’d hate me,” Rose whispered.

The scar had faded and thinned to barely-visible now, and would probably be gone altogether soon enough. Pearl rocked back to sit on her heels.

“We'll be safe here for a while, right?” Rose asked, looking up at Pearl. Making eye contact for the first time since the battle had started.

The pain and pleading in her eyes was too much to bear. Pearl bowed her head.

“Yes,” she said. “We can stay here for as long as you need to recover.”

Rose exhaled and closed her eyes. As she laid back against the cavern wall, her hand left Pearl's, and the space between her fingers suddenly felt cold.

* * *

“Aw, they wouldn’t’ve  _ hated  _ her,” Steven said. “Right?”

Bismuth gave a little hum, tilting the first-aid kit she held to the side. 

“But I suppose it doesn’t matter now.” Pearl daintily pressed the little blue bandage to Steven’s skin, successfully covering the small scrape on his belly. Bismuth had gotten a little carried away with their sparring--her punishment was having to help with the fix-up, and to listen to Pearl’s story. “It’s in the past. And now you all know anyway, so there’s really no use dwelling on it.”

“Easy for you to say,” Bismuth murmured. “You've had five thousand three hundred years to get over it all.”

Pearl shot her a sideways glare.

“That’s a long time!” Bismuth defended. “I'm allowed to be a little bitter still!”

Steven lowered his shirt and slouched a little. Instincts perking, Pearl softened her gaze and put her hand on his shoulder.

“You know she doesn’t mean it towards you,” she said. “You are not your mother. Regardless of whether we may have made you feel that way in the past.”

“Or whether we thought that way in the past.” Bismuth shrugged with old chagrin. “But still, it doesn’t matter now how we feel about her.”

“As long as you know we love you.”

Steven gave a tired smile. “Thanks. That means a lot from you guys.”


	8. tell me how the stars loved the earth so much (Amedot)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I always want to participate in ship week events, but never manage to crank out that much writing in that short a time. For a recent Amedot Week, I did complete one short lil fic for the first prompt (Limb Enhancers) and a couple funny paragraphs for the second (Gemlings). And they’re here out of order so we can get the short incomplete one out of the way first.   
> Also, fun tidbit, the baby one takes place in the Something About Roommates and Girlfriends universe!

Of the six people in the room--seven if you counted the baby--so far Amethyst was the one who had cried the least, which was weird considering that she'd been the one actively giving birth. Apparently the physical labor of having a baby was nothing compared to the emotional labor of being the wife, brother, stepdad, godmother, or close family friend of someone having a baby.

Pearl was probably the one who'd cried the most. Every time she looked at the baby, tears sprang anew; now she’d taken to distracting herself by obsessively arranging and rearranging the flowers on Amethyst’s bedside table. After her, Steven had second place--he’d probably be crying now if he hadn’t fallen asleep, curled up in Greg’s lap on the weird blue leather couch by the window. Garnet was right next to them, gently bouncing the baby in her arms and humming a low tune. As for the two brand-new mothers, they were snuggled up close and tight on the hospital bed, flushed warm and breathing deep. They almost looked like they were asleep, besides their quiet muttering back and forth.

"We have to name her Peridot Junior."

"Pers. No."

"First name Peridot, middle name Amethyst."

"You've said that literally a million times and Pearl's still not gonna let us do it.”

"She's not gonna let us name her Sonic the Hedgehog, either."

Amethyst huffed and carefully held her hands out like a businessman crafting a proposal. "Okay, compromise. First name Peridot. Middle name The Hedgehog."

* * *

_ (This was posted on Tumblr when I first wrote it--it’s probably the first thing in the “lillie writes” tag on @lapislazulillie if you wanna check it out there. The title I gave it there is “Era 3, Take 2.”) _

_ They’re yours. _

_ You clod. _

The note was written in Gem, and signed with a drawn version of the Diamond insignia that was marked with a vertical line beside the leftmost portion. Peridot sighed a little and smiled--despite the curtness of the message, it was a nice relief to read something in her native script. She was getting better at reading and writing Earth languages, and they were fine and dandy, but there was a specific, familiar, beautiful efficiency that could only come through in Gem writing.

“Are you gonna open the thing or what?”

“Just a moment.” Peridot held up a finger to Amethyst, stared at the note for a little bit longer, then let out a peaceful exhale and handed it to her. “Here. Bask in its glory.”

“Heh--aww, she remembers when you called her a clod…”

“My crowning moment,” Peridot said casually. Her attention was now on the large box the note had been attached to--Yellow Diamond seemed to have picked up on the concept of a ‘present’ even faster than Peridot had. It was made to look like it’d been carefully wrapped and everything. Peridot stood beside the box and lifted up the lid.

And loudly gasped. A gasp bordering on a scream.

Amethyst tumbled off the couch.

Quickly, though, she scrambled to her feet and leaped to see inside the box. “What? What is it?”

“New limb enhancers!” Peridot cried. She held up a big yellow-and-green metal tube and raised it high above her head, eyes watering.

Amethyst raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were over those things.”

“Well, sure, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate them.” She slid the arm attachment over her hand and clicked it into place at her elbow. Stars, it fit perfectly--almost  _ better  _ than her old ones. A giggle bubbled up her throat as the fingers floated around her face.

While Peridot put on the rest of the enhancers, Amethyst leaned over and peered into the bottom of the box. There was another note, this one written in more flowy handwriting, signed with a mark to the right of the Diamond symbol and a smiling little self-portrait in the corner--Blue Diamond’s pearl had been the scribe here.

_ Your poor little amethyst left her attachments on the ground at the ball! We had them collected and decided she deserved them back. She looks so much better with them on, almost like a real proper quartz! _

“Yikes.” Amethyst picked the note up. Sure enough, there was a set of purple limb enhancers underneath it.

She glanced back up at Peridot, who was happily tromping and twirling around at twice her previous height.

“Ooh, I can’t wait til the others get back from their mission! Pearl’s gonna be so jealous!” She gasped again. “I could probably pick up Bismuth and throw her around now!”

Amethyst snorted. Peridot was just too darn cute for there to be any room for annoyance in her core. “Feels weird to be looking up at you again, though.”

“Well, why don’t you put on the other set?” Peridot said, flopping back down on the couch beside Amethyst. “I  _ completely  _ missed out on the very first Era 3 Ball. You’ve gotta make it up to me.”

“Sure, but we gotta dance like regular people,” Amethyst stipulated. “None of that weird Homeworld side-stepping.”

“Deal!” Peridot grinned excitedly, eyes sparkling. Amethyst plucked a leg thingy--at least, she was pretty sure this was a leg thingy--from the box and put it on. Then the other leg thingy, then the arm thingies. Somehow the metal attaching to her light form seemed to connect right to her gem, so all she had to do was point-and-think to control the weird floaty fingers.

“Oh, my stars, you look perfect!” Peridot squealed. She stood and pulled Amethyst up with her, and her face was so delighted and so pure that all Amethyst could do was smile back and let her drag her to the Temple door.

Somewhere in the caverns of Amethyst’s room, there was a round little space where the glassy blue crystals glowed like fireflies all around and above--a perfect miniature ballroom. 

Peridot held Amethyst’s hand--her fake hand, her weird metal cylinder of hand that couldn’t really feel anything besides pressure--as they reached the area.

“So how how exactly does one ‘dance like regular people’?” Peridot asked, her fingers floating to Amethyst’s waist. “Is it a human thing? Or--”

“Sorta. I mostly learned it from Garnet and Pearl.” Amethyst wobbled a little, and put her big metal wrists on Peridot’s shoulders for support. Sure, she could’ve used the fingers, but the fact that they weren’t really attached gave her doubts about how well they’d hold her up. “Okay, we just stand like this, and then it’s like--I move my foot forward and you move yours back--”

She stepped, and Peridot mirrored her. Peridot landed flawlessly, but Amethyst wobbled again.

“Eheh--yeah, like that. And then this foot sideways, and then both feet together.”

“Shouldn’t we have music?”

“You can sing something if you want.” Amethyst stepped back, side, together, leaning a little more heavily on Peridot’s hands at her back. This was dumb--she was supposed to be leading, she was the one teaching the dance, but Peridot was doing a lot better than she was. Sure, yeah, Peridot was more used to walking on flippin’ stilts all the time, but--

Amethyst shook her head a little and forced herself to steady, pushing negative thoughts from her brain. She was dancing with Peridot and Peridot was holding her close and smiling and happy and humming a cute little tune. It was the situation of her dreams. There was no reason for Amethyst to be bitter at all.

“Who needs a ball,” Peridot softly sang, “when we’re here standing tall...you and I?”

Quiet, sparkly waltz music started to swell from Peridot’s gem, and Amethyst’s tension softened a little more. Maybe if she leaned enough on Peridot, focused enough on her, she could forget she was even wearing stupid limb enhancers

“Oh, how I wish...we could stay like this...all the time--”

“What, you wanna keep these things on forever?” Amethyst smirked.

“Well, sure,” Peridot replied, returning to speaking. “Why not?”

“I just--whoa--” Amethyst fell against Peridot’s chest and cringed. “I’m falling down all the time, for one--”

“It just takes time to adjust.” Peridot’s music changed a little, getting faster and higher, and she started spinning them both in place. “And once you do, we’d be unstoppable! Two perfect Gems rising above the crowd, taking Homeworld by storm! The new-and-improved, tall and lovable Peridot, and right by my side the even  _ more  _ new-and-improved tall and lovable--”

“AGH!”

Amethyst stumbled backwards and fell onto her rump. She tore off her arm attachments and flung them away in opposite directions.

Peridot’s face went blue. “Amethyst, what are you doing?!”

“I’m sick of these things!” Amethyst shoved at the leg attachments, struggling to pop them off. “Blue Diamond doesn’t know anything about me!”

“You just need a little more practice getting used to them! I can help you!”

“I don’t  _ wanna _ get used to ‘em!”

Amethyst’s metallic boot abruptly detached, and the extra momentum sent it flying forward. It hit Peridot right in the chest, right on her star, right with enough force to knock her down.

She flailed, then landed flat on her back. Her music went silent.

Wincing, Peridot pushed herself onto her elbows, sharp aches blooming across her torso. But when she looked up and saw Amethyst’s face, all her own pain evaporated.

“I like myself the way I am,” Amethyst said, voice cracking. “And I worked really hard to get that way. And I always liked you the way you were!” She sniffed and wiped away a welling tear with the heel of her hand. “I just--I just thought you liked me that way, too.”

“Amethyst…”

Peridot slowly sat up, her hands falling between her outstretched legs. Amethyst let out another “agh,” an exasperated scoff at herself for crying. She rubbed the back of her forearm across both eyes and curled her beautiful perfect short legs up to her beautiful perfect round chest.

No way was Peridot going to let her feel bad about herself ever again.

She stood up, pursed her lips and set her brow, effortlessly dropped her arm attachments and jumped down from her leg enhancements. Her brand-new little yellow boots felt more just-right than ever, landing on the ground right now, like she’d subconsciously made them exactly for this moment. She’d made this whole new form solely to use it to run across the room and slide to her knees and throw her arms around Amethyst’s shoulders and bury her face in her hair.

“I don’t like you that way,” she said. “I  _ love  _ you that way.”

Amethyst’s breath caught in her throat. The catch became a cough, and the cough became a laugh.

“Dude! Cheese alert!”

“I’m sorry,” Peridot said, squeezing Amethyst tighter. “You’re right. I guess I’m not as ‘over those things’ as I thought, and...I was just projecting on you.”

“Well, I love you whatever way you wanna be.” Amethyst pulled away to look at Peridot’s face, still keeping her arms around her. “Fun-size P’s the one that stole my heart, but if King-size P's stickin’ around, she can keep it.”

Peridot shook her head. “Fun-size P is yours forever. King-size P might come and go, but just for the sake of messing with Pearl.” She gently brushed Amethyst’s bangs away from her eye. “There’s one thing Blue Diamond got right, though. I like thinking of you as my little Amethyst.”

“Tch,” Amethyst grinned, cupping Peridot’s cheek in one hand. Her fingers wove into her stiff hair, and her thumb snuck just under the edge of her visor. “My little Peridot.”

There wasn’t any possible response to that besides a kiss.


	9. Agricultural Therapy (Spinel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have any plans for this, I just really wanted to think about peridot and spinel and yellow diamond and lapismuth jokes. bcus I love them. that's all

When Steven heard the idea, he was a little wary of it, but whatever--she didn’t need his approval. He wasn’t invited, anyway.

The warp stream faded, and Spinel stood on the pad, the top of her arm dangling loose from her shoulder and the bottom of it wrapped snug around Yellow Diamond’s index finger. It was still sort of weird to be looking at the garden again, from the opposite point of view--six thousand years of watching the warp pad, seeing the deterioration of her sanctuary out of her periphery, and now here she was staring at it all head-on. The crumbling pillars, the withered vines, the wild bushes. The broken pieces of the projector she smashed in front of Steven.

And then her eyes finally landed on that spot--the two dark imprints in the grass, still perfectly matching the shape of her shoes. She tensed, her arm wrapping a little tighter.

Yellow Diamond noticed.

“”We’re giving you a lot of trust to bring us here, 5XG,” she said to the peridot on Spinel’s other side. “If she gets upset in any way--”

“You _are_ giving me a lot of trust, and it’s warranted,” Peridot smugly interrupted, stepping off the warp pad. She was laden with two toolboxes and a heavy belt, all filled with various rakes and spades and seed packets. “I am one hundred percent the best Gem for this job.”

As Peridot marched forth, Yellow Diamond carefully knelt and rested her other hand over Spinel’s.

“How are you feeling?” she interrogated. “You don’t have to go through with this. I’ve dealt with this before--if you’re feeling upset and this makes you feel worse, say the word and we’re back on Homeworld.”

“Heh, shucks, Yellow,” Spinel replied, automatically beaming--but then the smile faded, and she took a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

She braced herself and looked back at the garden. Peridot had found her footprints and was standing proudly in them, her toolboxes held up above her head.

“What better way to cope with the trauma of abandonment than gardening!” she proclaimed.

Yellow stood and put a hand on her hip. “Speaking of which, your lazuli would surely be useful here. Why didn’t she come?”

“I invited her, but apparently she and Bismuth are too busy making out to care about  _ me.”  _ Peridot huffed and set the toolboxes down. "It's whatever. This is a Captain Peridot solo mission."

Spinel snapped her heels together, lifting a hand to her brow--palm down, elbow out. A funny little salute she picked up from one of the movies Steven showed her the last time she visited Earth. "Aaaaaawaiting orders, Cap'n."


	10. Still Soulmates (Connverse, kinda)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HOO. This one is definitely 100% just...connie and steven being the unfortunate victims of me projecting all my insecurities about the relationship I was in when I wrote this. It was my first time dating a woman, and she was several years older than me, and her family liked me and my family liked her and she was pretty much ready to settle down, but I was Not. On top of that, I was attending Brigham Young University, a church school notorious for having students get engaged/married super fast and pretty stupidly. So I was feeling lots of pressure to get married and was terrified of it. The concepts here are also present in Where Thy Victory--this was intended to be a sort of prequel to that particular storyline. Baby versions of wise young Alex and grandma-punching Lisa! Woo!  
> Long story short: Connie and Steven get married, have two kids, get divorced, and eventually realize that their relationship is a lot stronger as Best Friends than anything else. Platonic soulmates for the win.  
> In light of the finale, though: CONNVERSE RIGHTS. They ARE soulmates, platonic or romantic, they're perfect together, they love each other so much, and i cant stop crying

_ Prologue _

“Bye!”

“So long!”

“Good luck!”

“Bye!”

“Steven, are you gonna get in the car?”

“Okay, I’m coming!”

After one last wave to the crowd of wedding guests, Steven slid through the door into the passenger seat of Connie’s new car, scooping up his trailing white skirts and piling the fabric onto his lap. Pearl pushed the door closed and grabbed Steven’s hand through the open window.

“We’re so proud of you. Both of you,” Pearl said, the porch lights shimmering the tear tracks on her cheeks--she’d stopped trying to wipe them off several minutes ago. She squeezed Steven’s hand, then looked past him. “Drive safely, alright?”

“Yeah, don’t get distracted making out and crash!” Amethyst called from behind Pearl.

“Don’t worry,” Connie laughed.

Priyanka leaned through the driver’s window to kiss her daughter’s cheek. “We mean it. Be safe.”

“In everything you do tonight,” Doug added with a wink.

“Give up, Dad. I’ve been immune to your innuendos since high school.”

_ (I don’t know if I had a plan for the rest of this scene? Mayhaps just driving to their honeymoon hotel or whatever, all glowy and happy and excited and nervous and then just...not doing anything.) _

* * *

_ (Skip to I think five-ish years later. Connie is the official intergalactic ambassador and is away from home a lot and Steven gets upset about it & I just had some dialogue ideas floating around about it.) _

“I don’t want my kids growing up without a mom!”

“Oh, like you got the short end of the stick there! You had the Gems, you had independence, you turned out fine!”

“Does this look fine to you?!”

“Steven, I’m not  _ dying _ , alright? I’m just busy! All parents get busy!”

“It’s been two weeks!”

“Okay, maybe I’m more busy than a normal parent--but that’s  _ probably  _ because I’m taking on Diamond duties, which  _ I  _ have to do on my own because my husband--who is the  _ actual Pink Diamond _ \--”

“Hey, no Diamond talk at home!”

“--is so wrapped up in-- _ no Diamond talk at home?  _ Is that a rule now?!”

“This is Earth! This is about our Earth life!”

“They’re the same life! You don’t just stop being half of who you are because of what planet you’re on!”

“I don’t want the kids dealing with this!”

“No,  _ you  _ just don’t want to deal with it! You never have! And I don’t want to keep enabling you to ignore your responsibilities anymore!”

“Pink Diamond’s mess isn’t my responsibility. This family is my responsibility! These kids are our main priority!”

“I know, but they can’t be a higher priority than the  _ entire universe!” _

“YES, THEY CAN! THEY’RE OUR KIDS!”

Connie fell back onto the couch, eyes wide, muscles tense.

_ (Steven Cutie-Pie Maheswaran is not exempt from the law that men are not allowed to yell at women ever. He is now going to jail. And by jail I mean the kiddo starts crying and Connie deep sighs.) _

“And now they’re awake, and they heard us yelling.”

“They heard me yelling.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Connie stood and shoved Steven’s shoulders back. “You woke them up.  _ You  _ put them back to bed. I’m going to my parents’.”

“What? Connie, wait, we can--”

“Please, I just--I just need some space. I’m taking Lion.”

Steven lifted the wailing child from his bed and held him to his shoulder, gently bouncing and rocking back and forth. Alex didn’t resist, but didn’t stop crying. Steven bounced him a little more and made soft shushing noises along with the rhythm.

It took a moment to remember he could speak.

“It’s alright, buddy, shhh,” he murmured. “What’s got you so sad, huh?”

Alex drew a loud, shaky breath. “I had a bad dream!”

“Aw, buddy.” Steven shifted his hold on Alex and gently rubbed his back. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“It was all--” Another breath, a cross between a gasp and a hiccup. “--all fiery and light and bugs and Stev--and Stevonnie was in trouble!” He buried his face in Steven’s neck. “It felt like they were dying!”

Steven’s heart twinged a little.

It wasn’t like Alex accidentally seeing dreams and mindscapes was new--they’d first started noticing that he’d inherited the power soon after he learned to talk. But they all knew he was way too young to be seeing some of the things he saw. Even if he was too young to understand.

_ He can understand Stevonnie dying. _

“It was just a dream, buddy, it’s okay,” Steven said. “It was just a thought, right? Just a thought, just a thought, just a thought--”

“No! I don’t wanna sing right now!”

Steven stopped mid-note and closed his mouth. He would just have to let Alex cry it out, he supposed.

The song didn’t feel right without Stevonnie, anyway.

“Dad, how come he’s still crying?”

Steven turned, and Alex sniffed. Lisa stood in the bedroom door, rubbing one eye with her fist like the tired child she was but also holding a hand on her hip like a little teenager. “I can’t sleep with him crying so much.”

“He just had a bad dream. He’ll be okay in a minute,” Steven replied, patting Alex’s back.

“Mom could make him stop crying.”

“Mom went to Nani and Nana’s house for the night. Besides, sometimes it’s better to just let the feelings out.”

Lisa blew out a frustrated huff through her lips, like a horse. “But I can’t  _ sleep. _ ”

“Alright. C’mere.”

Steven backed up to sit on Alex’s bed, shifting the toddler so he was sitting on his thigh, and opened his other arm for Lisa to crawl into. Gradually Alex’s sobbing dissolved into sniffling, and Lisa relented to come sit on her father’s lap. Steven held his children close.

“How come Mom left?” Alex asked after a moment, the taste of a whimper still in his voice.

“She just needed a little space,” Steven replied. “She’ll be back in the morning.”

Lisa turned her face downward, the motion rubbing against Steven’s chest. She picked a piece of fuzz off her pajama pants and folded her hands.

“Are you and Mom gonna get a divorce?”

Steven jolted at the question.

“What? No, no, of course not!” he said rapidly. “We’re just--she just needs a little space right now.”

“Do you still love each other?” Alex asked softly.

“Of course we still love each other. We’re always gonna love each other.” Steven hugged his kids a little tighter. “Parents that love each other just have problems sometimes. But they work through it, and they stay married.”

“Your parents loved each other, and they weren't married,” Alex pointed out.

“That...that was different. That was probably Gem stuff.”

Lisa made a grumpy-sounding noise and murmured through barely-parted lips. “Gem stuff.”

Steven flattened the line of his mouth.

Finally, he exhaled and touched a quick kiss to the top of Lisa’s head. “You should be getting back to bed.” He ruffled Alex’s hair. “Both of you.”

_ (I’m so glad Steven is getting actual therapy in canon & that he and Connie are so happy and perfect together right now in canon. and i’m so glad i’m not in the situation i was in when i wrote this anymore. Connverse rights!!!) _


	11. i should come up with an actual title for this sometime (Gemsona Origin-Pukhraj Sapphire)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that’s what I had it saved in my docs as. Pure self-indulgent drivel.

Objectively, she was perfect.

There was nothing visibly wrong with her. Her gemstone was round and symmetrical and located nicely in the center of her belly; every facet was smooth and shiny. Nothing was off about her size or color or proportions. Her hair was short, unlike most other sapphires that preceded her, but that was really just an aesthetic detail--no impact on her functionality at all.

Her hole was exactly as it should be, too. A clean, strong silhouette. Good depth, good height, basically consistent with that of any other quality sapphire. Overall, she was an excellent specimen. 

To be completely nitpicky, though, her one flaw was that she came out looking a little...bewildered.

“Sapphire, Facet 2L7E, Cut 5XG,” recited the peridot overseeing her. “A special yellow variant. Pukhraj.”

“That’s my name,” the sapphire said, in a vaguely sing-song voice. She stepped forward and lifted a gloved hand to push her bangs out of her face and look around. “What’s yours?”

Peridot frowned. She glanced at her screen and didn’t answer the question.

“Mm, alright, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” the sapphire mumbled.

“I’m Peridot. I’m a peridot.” The screen went away, the peridot’s fingers floating back into place above her arm enhancer. “I’m a peridot, you’re a sapphire, and that’s all we need to say about it.”

“I think I like Pukhraj better than Sapphire.”

“Then we’ll call you Pukhraj.” Peridot turned around and motioned for Pukhraj to follow her. “You’ll be assigned to attend at Yellow Diamond’s side for most of your time, telling her the future and whatnot. It’ll all be explained to you by someone else. That’s not my job.”

“What is your job?”

“I’m a kindergartener. I’m just here to make sure you come out of the ground right.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

Peridot’s frown deepened. Fortunately for her, they were almost at the station where Pukhraj would be dropped off.

Unfortunately for her, the station was empty. There was supposed to be an amber here, to pick up new Gems and teach them what they had to do, but here was a brand-new Gem with no amber to be found.

Peridot stepped onto the ledge beside the warp pad through which Amber would--hopefully--soon arrive. Pukhraj stood beside her, hands neatly folded. A fat silence wedged itself between them and sat.

Pukhraj leaned forward to speak around the silence. “ _ Did  _ I come out of the ground right?”

“Of course you did.”

“That’s good.” She stood back. “Um--sorry. What are we waiting for?”

Peridot sighed. “Why don’t you use your Future Vision to tell you?”

Pukhraj gasped, and Peridot rolled her eyes. Usually knowledge like this would be programmed right into the Gem the moment they were made, but sometimes it needed to be kicked in by a reminder.

“I have Future Vision! Yeah!” Pukhraj grinned and brushed her bangs over her eye, then clenched her fists, as if physical effort would help her see better.

So far, it didn’t seem to be working.

Peridot tapped her foot and hoped Pukhraj didn’t have to look far to see Amber arriving.

“Oh, oh--aah!” Pukhraj suddenly yelled, flinging her hands into the air. “I just had a vision! That injector’s gonna fall on top of us!”

Peridot started. “What? When?”

“Like, right now! Move move move!”

Squeaking, Peridot leapt away from the warp and covered her head with her arms. Hopefully Pukhraj would have enough sense to do the same before--

_ Bwinnnnng. _

“What is going on here?”

Peridot looked up. So did Pukhraj.

Amber was standing primly in the center of the warp pad, one eyebrow calmly raised in question. Her thin lips were pursed, which made them look even thinner; her thick hands were folded, which made them look even thicker. It seemed a strange juxtaposition, to both the brand-new Pukhraj and the ever-picky Peridot, that ambers possessed such sharp-featured faces on soft, round bodies--narrow eyes, angular noses, wide shoulders, fat bellies. In theory they were well-designed to be teachers, stern and nurturing at the same time, but in practice they always looked a bit odd.

“Is everything all right?” Amber asked with a little tilt of her head, glancing between the two Gems on the ground. 

“Wh--she predicted that injector’s gonna fall!” Peridot warned, scuttering backwards a little.

Pukhraj stood, skirt bouncing. “Wait. No, it’s not.”

“What?!”

“Ugh, sorry. Stars. I must’ve been wrong.” Pukhraj shoved her bangs again away from her eye, looking more bewildered than before. “I saw the injector falling, but instead you arrived.”

Amber stepped off the warp and held out a hand to Peridot. Stubborn, Peridot stood on her own and lifted her chin.

“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Amber smiled serenely, turning to Pukhraj and folding her hands again. “After all, you’ve only had future vision for about a minute. I’m here to help you learn how to properly use it to serve your Diamond. Now, you know who your Diamond is, don’t you?”

Pukhraj opened her mouth in another light gasp. “Yellow Diamond.”

_ (And then thinking about yellow diamond just became too gay to function I guess idk where else this was gonna go...byee) _


	12. Of Love (Pearlmethyst)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of Homeworld’s first return, Opal remains, ready to face the end of the world together.  
> Another lil thang that’s technically complete but didn’t feel like enough of a real fic to post. I think at some point I was planning to expand it to all of Opal’s other moments in the show? I dunno. Maybe someday I’ll add another bit for her surprise appearance in Together Alone. Or maybe y’all will!

Opal splits apart, but does not disappear.

Steven arrives, and Opal is overjoyed and terrified. So Amethyst takes the joy—

“You came back!”

—and Pearl takes the terror.

“What are you doing? Get out of here!”

Homeworld’s ship is here, and it’s too late for anything to be certain, and so Amethyst and Pearl step forward and Opal does what Opal knows best: protects Steven. Opal is there for Steven.

Opal is there in the anger and the energy and the fear as Jasper steps into view. Opal is there in the mention of Rose—the thought, the defensiveness, the love.

In “some lost, defective pearl,” Pearl stings, and Amethyst feels it too, and Opal is there. In “a puny, overcooked runt,” Amethyst stings—though she doesn’t quite understand, yet—and Pearl feels it too, and Opal is there.

(In “this shameless display,” Opal half-wishes Jasper could see her, just to rub it in her face.)

And when Jasper turns to Steven, Opal is there for him.

But she wasn’t expecting him to be there for her—for them.

“This is my home, and you’re all my family!”

And Opal is there—

_ “I’m a Crystal Gem too!” _

—in a surge of love and pride, and fear.

“Fire a barrage, widespread!”

Opal is there in a gasp and a scream when Garnet comes apart. Opal is there in a rush to save her Steven. “Unhand him!”

And she fails.

They’ve lost.

Opal is undone, but still isn’t gone. Though Pearl and Amethyst are defeated and surrender to capture, in their intertwined hands Opal is defiance. Though Ruby and Sapphire are kept far apart and Steven even farther, just one wall separates Amethyst and Pearl, and in that wall Opal is closeness.

And they wait. And as they wait, they talk. Pearl talks of Homeworld, what she’s seen and what they’ll soon see again, and Amethyst listens. Opal is there. Amethyst talks of Earth, what she’s seen and what they’ll never see again, and Pearl listens. Opal is there.

And Opal waits, ready to face what comes next—whatever it may be—together.

* * *

Opal hears Steven approaching.

Opal hears Garnet singing.

Opal is there in sudden hope and determination and power as they run through the halls of the ship. Opal is there in proud triumph when Amethyst defeats the pilot and Pearl takes control of the ship. Opal is there in Garnet’s refrain:  _ “I am made of love, and it’s stronger than you. Of love.” _

Opal is there, safe and tight in Garnet’s lap, huddled around Steven with his bubble around them.

Opal is there in benign surprise—“You met Ruby and Sapphire?” Opal is there in laughter—“I’ll just pretend I didn’t know!”

But the show’s not over yet.

Jasper emerges, and Opal is back to protect Steven. Opal is there to keep him safe, to hold him tight, to hold him back when Lapis Lazuli’s eyes turn cold.

But for all she tries to stay strong for Steven, when Malachite is born, Opal is fear.

More than anything else, Opal is scared. Scared of the too many hands that hit the sand, scared of the vivid green eyes that roll into place, scared of the double-voiced laugh that booms across the beach. She’s scared because she’s not going to be able to protect Steven from the hand that’s rising above the ocean or from the hand that rises from beneath it—

—but when the hands turn to chains, Opal is no longer scared for Steven, but for herself. 

Because as frightening as it is, Opal sees herself in Malachite—or rather, her components do; as dearly as they love each other and as dearly as they want to be kind and  strong, they can’t forget their bad parts. That they can be harsh, petty, manipulative, deceptive. In Malachite, Opal is a worst-case scenario, and  _ that’s  _ what she’s really scared of.

And when Pearl and Amethyst are scared for themselves, what they turn to for comfort isn’t Opal.

So Malachite sinks beneath the water; so the danger passes. So Steven is safe. And Amethyst stands shocked, unable to take her eyes from where Malachite has vanished, and Pearl leans to Garnet. And Opal has faded.

Opal has disappeared—but is not split apart. She won’t be gone for so long this time. She’s promised herself that much.

* * *

Opal comes back. 

She’s grown a lot since the last time. She appears with ease, she stretches and smiles. She’s relieved and relaxed, rested and ready. She’s support, confidence, love.

She picks up the drill head and puts it on top.

She’s going to stick around for a while. Just because.


	13. Gem-Controlled (Doctor Who Crossover)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> GOSH this one is SO GOOD, ive been working on it for so long, but it’s been stagnant and it’s time to let go!! I love this fic to pieces. The only thing I don’t like is a. my inability to have a good plot, specifically the fact that i couldnt figure out a way for this to have the effective plot structure of an actual doctor who episode, and b. the fact that the epilogue makes pretty much no sense. I’m leaving the epilogue in regardless of its canon contradictions--I wrote it long before we had seen or really known anything about Pink or White Diamond, and only made small edits afterward--purely because I just really really love the very last exchange with Pearl.  
> Anyways, that’s a long ways away. Spoilers. Enjoy!

_ Prologue: The Future _

_ Starring ERICA LUTTRELL and DEEDEE MAGNO HALL _

_ Featuring CHARLYNE YI as RUBIES _

Sapphire stopped walking. “Hmm.”

Her pearl paused behind her, hands folded and posture straight. “Is something the matter?”

“Perhaps,” Sapphire replied, enigmatic as ever. 

Pearl stuck out her lips a little in the most irritated expression she could muster without fear of being reprimanded. Sapphire was a good master, to be sure, a sweet and gentle and lovely Gem, but her tendency to completely stop everything while she looked into the future at times could rub on one’s nerves.

After a moment, Sapphire nodded and resumed her walk. “How unfortunate.”

“Wh-what’s unfortunate, my Sapphire?” Pearl dared to ask, stepping a little quicker on her toes to keep up.

“Nothing you need to worry about, Pearl. Please wait here while I take this meeting.”

Pearl dipped her head and stepped back as Sapphire continued forward into the large room at the end of the hall. There were likely other pearls standing with their masters inside the meeting-- taking notes or just standing on display--but Sapphire was a bit more modest than the average aristocrat. She preferred to leave her pearl alone most of the time, only toting her around in case of necessity or to keep her from wandering off.

So Pearl stood alone outside the door, waiting and listening for the meeting to be over.

After several minutes of introductions and pleasantries, Pearl got bored and started fidgeting. She tugged at her long gauzy sleeves. She smoothed down her little gossamer skirt, then fluffed it back up, then smoothed it back down. She pushed her bangs away from her eyes. On the last movement, her nose brushed against the gem at the middle of her palm, and she sneezed.

“Bless you.”

Oh. She wasn't alone. There was a pair of little rubies standing guard in front of the door, one with her stone on the back of her hand and the other bearing it on her shoulder. 

“Thank you,” Pearl said quietly. She couldn't guess which one of them had spoken to her, but she hoped the message was clear enough.

Quickly, though, she was bored again. Rubies weren't exactly the best conversationalists, so she leaned an ear against the door of the meeting hall.

“--never dream of doubting Blue Diamond,” a simpering voice was saying--probably an iolite. “But we just don't know how much faith we can put into one Gem’s foggy talents.”

“They're not foggy at all!” came the unmistakable command of a garnet--likely Blue Diamond's most prized spessartine. “They're the most precise powers of any sapphire--”

“She’s never been wrong,” a turquoise approved.

Iolite humphed. “There's a first time for everything. And if you're so sure that this colony is going to be interrupted, why bother even building it in the first place?”

“The purpose of my foresight is not to attempt to change the future. It is simply to provide comfort in progressing toward a predestined resolution.”

That was Sapphire. Pearl couldn't help but feel a little rush of pride at her master's eloquence.

“If Blue Diamond trusts Sapphire enough to give her stewardship over this colony, then I share that trust,” Spessartine continued. “And if she trusts the three of us enough to assign us to assist, then I will do everything in my power to prove that trust is earned.”

Pearl tuned out a little. She'd heard this conversation before. Some Gems just couldn't accept the perfection of Sapphire's future vision, for whatever reason. She glanced back over at the rubies. They were standing straight and still, the perfect image of what a soldier should be.

Hand Ruby seemed to sense her staring. She caught her eye and gave a little wave from her hip. Pearl smiled--it was obvious which one had said “bless you” now.

Shoulder Ruby noticed her partner's movement and lightly punched her cube of hair, making Pearl stifle a giggle.

“What do you think they're talking about in there?” Shoulder Ruby asked.

Now it was Hand’s turn to punch. “Don't you pay attention to anything? Sapphire's new colony is gonna be wiped out!”

Pearl snapped her head up.

“All the spires evaporated, the Kindergarten stopped, a hundred Gems caught in the crossfire--”

“That's ridiculous,” Shoulder argued. “The colony's brand new!”

“You callin’ me a liar?”

Pearl clenched her fists. Was this the unfortunate event Sapphire had paused over? But this meeting had been planned ages ago--what could Sapphire have seen just now that took her mind off of something like this? She leaned back toward the door to eavesdrop again.

“So say we do rebuild the colony,” Iolite said skeptically. “How do we know it won't just be attacked again?”

“She can  _ see  _ so,” Turquoise replied.

“Additionally,” Sapphire said, her voice calm and even; Pearl could easily picture her now holding up a hand to lower her colleagues’ tempers. “I am familiar enough with the Doctor to know their tendencies. They don't like looking back on things.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that after they believe they've saved a planet once, they'll leave it alone.”

Spessartine scoffed a little. “The universe is too big for them to be making double trips to one place, huh?”

“Precisely.”

Iolite humphed. “Then if we aren’t going to do anything, why did you call this meeting in the first place?”

“Simply as a reassurance,” Sapphire replied. “You three have been working hard on this colony, and I appreciate that. I want you to know that even though our efforts may be frustrated temporarily, we will be able to succeed in the end.”

Pearl smiled. She was lucky Sapphire’s future vision had such a bright upside to its occasional annoyances.

“Hear, hear,” Spessartine assented.

“Hear, hear!” Turquoise echoed.

“Very well. Pearl?”

Pearl almost reacted before realizing that Iolite had been addressing her own pearl. Obviously. Their chairs scraped against the floor as they stood, and the two rubies snapped back into formation. Pearl tucked her heels back together and folded her hands.

The door opened. Iolite came out first, majestic and regal in her flowing indigo-violet garb; she was followed closely by a silent pearl of pale lavender. Both had their eyes covered by swooping bangs that curled away from the forehead to reveal the gems there. 

Next was little green-tinted Turquoise, a navel-mounted Gem not much taller than Sapphire but considerably more slender, without quite a high enough ranking to have a pearl of her own. She smiled at Pearl and the rubies as she passed by. 

Then Spessartine, her arm around her pearl’s narrow shoulders. Spessartine looked almost like a quartz soldier by build and dress; the only obvious difference was the softness of the curves of her hair, the little embellishments of her clothing (the cape, most of all), the elegance with which she carried herself. She was really the rarest of the group--if Pearl had been the gossipping type, she would have wondered what sort of scandal could have caused this near-royal to now be outranked by Sapphire.

And then there Sapphire was. Pearl took a few tippy-toed steps forward and bowed her head, letting her bangs fall over one eye. 

“Thank you for your patience, Pearl,” Sapphire said graciously. “That can't have been easy on you to wait outside like that.”

“Oh--it was no trouble, my Sapphire,” Pearl replied, dipping her head again.

“I appreciate it nonetheless.” Sapphire turned and rejoined the group; the others were following one of the rubies to the nearest warp pad. Pearl quietly trotted after her master, and the other ruby took up the rear of the small parade.

Pearl bit her lip, wanting to say something but not wanting to overstep her bounds. Sapphire likely wouldn't be bothered by a question, but the others might think it improper for her to speak out of turn. But no, she rationalized as she peered up the line--Iolite was too busy complaining to the rubies about something or other to notice anything else, and Spessartine and Turquoise were locked in their own conversation. After a moment, curiosity won.

“Forgive me, but--”

“Of course.”

“--I couldn't help but overhear a bit of what was said in that meeting.”

Sapphire tipped her head, looking into the future. “I see.”

“I was just wondering...who is the Doctor?”

The front of the line had reached the warp pad. The rubies hopped up first in order to help the nobles up the stairs.

“You’ll find out soon enough, Pearl.”

Pearl pouted. But before she could try to pry a little more, they were all on the platform and they warped away.

* * *

_ Chapter 1: Arrival _

_ Starring DAVID TENNANT and CATHERINE TATE _

_ Featuring SHERYL LEE RALPH as SPESSARTINE _

_ Click-clack--donnng. Wzzh, wsssh, bleep-beep, thonk. _

“Fennwailia!”

Donna looked up, drawn away from the sound of the TARDIS by the sound of its pilot. “Fennwailia?”

The Doctor grinned and nodded, flipping a few more switches. “Home of the Fennwills. Whole planet’s like one big meadow, grass and daisies and dandelions far as you can see in any direction. Essential relaxation spot for the intergalactic tourist. There isn’t even any buildings, the Fennwills just live in these cute little holes in the hills.”

“What, like Hobbits?”

“Live like Hobbits, look like elves.” They kicked a lever and used the inertia of the movement to spin to face Donna. “Tall, pointy ears.”

“The pointy-eared Fennwills of Fennwailia,” Donna smiled. “Sounds lovely.”

“Just you wait ‘til you see it. Come on!” They grabbed Donna’s hand briefly and skipped down toward the door, barely giving her a chance to keep up. “You’ve got your sweater on? It can get a bit breezy out here.” They swept their trench coat off the railing and slid a sleeve over one hand while opening the door with the other.

“You sure a sweater’s going to be enough? Because the last time you said it’d be ‘a bit breezy’ we ended up on Planet of the Icicles and I’d left my coat in--”

She stopped, the TARDIS door clapping shut behind her. 

The scene before her was barren and dreary, without even a hint of a breeze. The air held a chill, but rather than a comforting bite of leftover winter in an early spring like she expected, it was a strange and unsettling emptiness, like a morgue. The grass under her feet was dusty and brittle, and a few paces to her right the ground gave way to a dark canyon.

“This a wrong stop, then?” she assumed.

She glanced over at the Doctor. They had their back to her and were staring at the ground.

“No, this is Fennwailia, all right,” they murmured. They bent and tugged up a few blades of grass, tasted them. “Bleh. Something’s gone wrong, though.”

They straightened and took a few steps to the left, the grass crunching quietly under their feet. “Something’s wrong. What’s wrong?”

Donna wandered toward the edge of the canyon. Whatever was strange about this place, it seemed like it had to be coming from something strange down there--and sure enough--

“Doctor?”

The Doctor paced over to her, still muttering to themself. “It’s like the ground just got all the nutrients sucked right out of it. But why? And who? The Fennwills don’t nearly have the technology to do something like that, especially not this far back in the past--”

“Then I’m guessing those aren’t Fennwill holes, are they?”

Donna pointed down into the canyon. The Doctor was on the edge beside her. The walls of the canyon were all lined with silhouettes, dark holes in the rock in the shape of people. Almost.

Their hand closed around her wrist. Instinctively Donna yanked away and glanced up to shout at them, but their face persuaded her to loosen. 

“We need to leave.”

They weren’t looking at her. Instead, their dark brown eyes scanned over the silhouettes, expression blank but for a taut jaw. 

“Doctor, what’s wrong?” Donna asked.

They tightened their grip on her wrist a little. “We need to leave now. Now. Come on!”

“Wha--oi! Hold on a minute!” Donna pulled away from the Doctor’s grasp, but still ran after them. “You can’t just run off and not tell me anything! What happened here? What are we running from?”

“Fennwailia’s not a tourist planet anymore, so we're not staying.”

“Doctor!”

The Doctor flung open the TARDIS door and closed it as soon as Donna was inside. Their speed in returning to the console was the same as when they'd left it, but powered by a much different energy.

“We’ll pick a different tourist planet,” they said quickly, starting up the engine. “How about Space Florida? Get out your swimsuit and sunscreen.”

“What, so we’re just going to leave?” Donna shot back in disbelief. “That’s not what we do. You’re acting like you’ve got some sort of--history with those holes.”

The Doctor shoved down a lever, and the TARDIS warbled and rumbled into action. “No, but I know what they are.”

Donna fell silent. The Doctor didn’t look up.

“Humans aren't the only ones exploring, Donna,” they said. “And they're not the only ones conquering, either. And no conquerors treat their conquests too well.”

“Well, then why are we running away?” Donna replied. “That's not what we do. We stand up to the conquerors. We save the planet.”

The Doctor shook their head, not lifting their eyes from the floor. “Not these ones. There are some planets I just can't save.”

They slapped at a button and crossed to the other side of the console, hiding themself from Donna’s view. Donna frowned and crossed her arms.

“Alright,” she said. “What if I say no?”

The Doctor didn’t respond.

Donna huffed. “What if I say ‘no, there’s not planets you can’t save’? Because I’ve seen plenty enough to prove that wrong. It’s not a fixed point or anything, is it?”

“This is different. Fennwailia’s a Gem-controlled planet. It’s past saving.”

“Gem-controlled? What’s Gem?”

“What  _ are  _ Gems,” the Doctor corrected. The tension in their demeanor was fading in favor of distant bitterness as they explained. “A race designed and optimized to take over different planets. The most powerful empire in the universe. Ancient, complex society. And the only way they can reproduce is by draining the life of other worlds.” They clucked their tongue. “Not the type of girls you want to cross.”

“Well, let’s go blow them up, then. What’s stopping them from coming to Earth?”

“The Earth’s fine. We’re not having this conversation.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Donna, I can’t!”

“Prove it!” Donna challenged. “Prove to me that you can’t save a single planet from these people. Because I won’t believe it until you do.”

The Doctor said nothing. Like a child giving her the silent treatment. The engines started to power up. Donna pursed her lips.

“Fine,” she murmured, hand on the handle of the TARDIS door. “Then I’ll save them.”

Before the Doctor could stop her, she stepped out of the TARDIS and smacked the door shut behind her, striding in the opposite direction of the canyon.

Right. First step in saving an alien planet: find an alien.

Donna looked around and spied a building not too far off, a tall blue spire. There was bound to be someone there. She jogged toward it.

There--a tall, thin girl dressed in blue, with short slicked-back white hair and skin too pale to be human. She was standing in front of the spire with her hands folded, eyes scanning around like she was a scout. A white sphere, almost like a giant pearl, was sticking out of her upper left arm, just under her shoulder.

“‘Scuse me!”

The alien girl’s eyes snapped to Donna as she approached.

“Hello,” she greeted. “Sorry for asking, but--are you a Fennwill?”

The girl scoffed a little, somewhere between indignant and amused. “No.”

“Then you’re not--” Donna glanced again at the thing protruding from the girl’s arm. “--a Gem, are you?”

The girl blushed--or at least, Donna guessed it was a blush; it was really more of a bluish color, but she wouldn’t be surprised to see aliens that blushed blue. “Well, um--I--”

“Pearl!”

Donna jumped a little, but not as hard as the alien girl did. Another alien was striding toward them, this one much bigger and taller and bluer. Her outfit seemed more streamlined and practical than what the skinny girl--Pearl--wore, but the impressive mass of her swooshing hair and cape sort of balanced them out.

“Yes, my Spessartine?” Pearl squeaked, folding her hands.

“I didn’t ask you to stand behind to chat with the natives, you’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for Turquoise.” The big alien lightly tapped the back of Pearl’s head, a gentle scolding. She had a weird thing sticking out of her arm, too, in the same place as Pearl--but rather than a plain white sphere, it was a shiny cerulean block cut into a crisp rectangle. A gem.

“I thought they’d already gotten rid of all the wildlife in this facet,” the big woman commented, placing a hand on her wide hip and looking down her nose at Donna.

Donna’s jaw dropped. “Are you calling me wildlife?”

“Remind me what they’re called again?”

“Why don’t you look at me and I’ll tell you myself what I’m called--”

“Fennwills, my Spessartine,” Pearl said calmly.

The woman tossed a quick glare at Donna. “Shush.”

“Did you just  _ shush _ me?”

“She sounds more like Iolite than a quiet little Fennwill.”

“Well, that’s because I’m not quiet or little! Donna Noble, human, planet Earth, got a mind and a voice of my own, thank you very much! And who are you supposed to be?”

The big woman put one hand on Pearl’s waist and looked Donna in the eye for the first time.

“Spessartine Cut-1,” she said sternly. “Second-in-command to Sapphire-3 Cut-2A in the stewardship of this colony, delegated to preside over military matters. Former close confidant to Blue Diamond herself.”

“Is that supposed to impress me? Well, you’re gonna have to do better than that because I don’t even know who that is and if you’re only a  _ former  _ confidant then--”

“Where’s a quartz when you need one?” Spessartine sighed. “Pearl, go find those rubies to come take care of this.”

“Oi!” Donna snapped. “Look at me when I’m talkin’ to you!”

“Honestly, how many times to I have to say ‘rule number one--’”

Donna whirled 

Spessartine’s eyes narrowed.

“You.”

The Doctor grabbed Donna’s hand. “Donna, run.”

_ (The rubies come out and are threatening. Donna is skeptical at first cus of how small they are, then freaks out when they fuse. Bit of action, and then Sapphire's pearl appears and pulls them into a safe lil hiding space.) _

“Are you the Doctor?” the girl asked.

Donna glanced at them. They were wearing that face they got sometimes, when something suddenly got a little too scary or confusing for them to be cool with--that stern, severe expression they used to try to cover up how baffled they really were.

“Who wants to know?” they asked. “Who's your owner?”

“Owner?” Donna repeated.

“I'm Sapphire's, but she doesn't know I'm here,” the girl replied in a whisper. “I just had to know for myself. Are you?”

“Yes,” they said without changing that expression.

The girl’s expression changed, though--her jaw dropped, her eyebrows lifted. “Oh my stars! You're--and I just--why are you trying to destroy the colony?”

“I'm not.”

“But you are! Sapphire saw it! With her Future Vision, she saw you destroying everything we've built and sending us all off the planet,” the girl insisted.

Donna leaned forward. “If they destroy the colony, does that mean freeing the planet for the Fennwills?”

“Nonono, don't try to twist me into this,” the Doctor argued.

“You want to  _ free  _ the planet?” A note of skepticism entered the girl's voice. “That's what this is about? Why?”

“If I could, I would save every planet from you lot, but I can’t,” the Doctor said sharply, hands tightening around each other. “Because I’m not a warrior, I’m just a traveler. All I ever wanted was to travel, to see other worlds and other times and all the other beauties this universe has to offer--but you don’t care about that. You don’t care about the planets and the people you destroy. And if I could save one planet, if I  _ could  _ just save one planet--it’d be because it’s worth it.”

“What would be worth it?” the girl asked.

The Doctor unfolded their hands and looked her in the eye.

“You never saw this planet before your kind started sucking the life out of it.”

The girl shook her head and leaned forward. “What was it like before?”

“More beautiful than you could ever imagine,” the Doctor said softly. “The fields were lush and the flowers were bright and the grass was greener than green. When the breeze blew, it would wave, ripples like an ocean but quiet and soft and so,  _ so  _ alive. And the smell--” They closed their eyes and shook their head. “Just a single breath of the smell of those flowers was enough to make you cry.”

Donna's eyes pricked.

The alien girl bit her lip, gaze downcast. Then she looked up.

“I want to see it.”

The Doctor opened their eyes.

“I want to help you destroy the colony,” the girl said firmly. “I want to see Fennwailia alive again.”

* * *

_ Chapter 2: Trust _

_ Starring DAVID TENNANT, CATHERINE TATE, and DEEDEE MAGNO HALL _

“How many Gems are on this planet?”

“I don’t know exactly, but there’s--” Pearl bit her lip and counted on her fingers as she listed. “Sapphire, Spessartine, Iolite, and Turquoise, and Spessartine and Iolite’s pearls, and then a few bismuths and a few quartzes. Oh, and those two rubies.”

“No lapis or anything?”

“She went back to Homeworld right after carving the Kindergarten.”

_ (Aaaand I don’t know how to plot!! They talk to Sapphire’s pearl and trust each other I guess. At some point they decide that the way to save the planet is to destroy the central hub, and they sneak underground to get parts to build a bomb or...something. There’s gonna be a bomb. They’re underground getting stuff.) _

Pearl tried to focus, but couldn’t stop glancing around. She’d never been underground before--this was a place for bismuths and corals and maybe a cleaning pearl every now and then, not for the fancy little accessory of a sapphire. The walls were so delightfully dark and dirty, the floor so covered with fine grime, the hallways spiraling off into such interesting and mysterious structures--

“Keep up, Pearl!” the Doctor called from a few yards ahead.

“Yes, my S--” Pearl caught herself in her automatic response. “Yes, Doctor!” She took her eyes off the tunnel walls and stepped a little longer and quicker until she was at Donna’s side.

“You get used to it,” Donna reassured quietly. “The rushing about and not having a clue where you’re going.”

“I love it already,” Pearl breathed. “I’ve never been this far from my Sapphire’s side before. It’s exhilarating.”

Donna smiled. “What, really? How long have you worked for her?”

“Well, forever. I was made for her,” Pearl answered simply.

“Hold on, made for her?” Donna stopped walking. “Does she really  _ own  _ you?”

Donna was frowning, her obvious discomfort spilling over to make Pearl’s own nerves dance with anxiety. She rubbed her left palm over her gem.

“Th-that’s just the way pearls are,” she told Donna. “The way all Gems are, really. I belong to Sapphire, and Sapphire belongs to Blue Diamond--”

“Yeah, well, where I come from that’s called slavery, and we got rid of it. And we keep getting rid of it, wherever we find it,” Donna said sharply. 

“Stop looking at me,” the Doctor complained without turning back to them.

Donna shook her head. “Don’t you ever get tired of just...doing whatever  _ she  _ wants, never what you want? Your whole life?”

“Well--” Pearl held her gem tighter. “Y-yes. But I’d never say so! A-and after all, Sapphire’s always been good to me--she’s kind and soft and very bright, and barely strict at all--”

“Aha! Look at this beauty!” the Doctor suddenly piped up, bending to pick up a hunk of miscellaneous metal and then turning on their heel to follow a different branch of the tunnel. “Come on, girls, there’s more where this came from!”

Pearl hurried after the Doctor, her hands unconsciously folding themselves together. “Right!”

_ (donna & pearl chat a little more i guess. theyre cute) _

The Doctor interrupted again. Now their arms were completely full of discarded spare parts, and they had turned around to face Pearl and Donna. “We can finish swapping backstories later. What else do I need?” They dropped the stuff in their arms into the pile and, then knelt to rummage through it. “I need, I need, I need--oh! I need a piece of vein. There was a broken one over down that way, could you fetch it, Donna?”

“Fetch it? What do you think I am?”

“I could get it,” Pearl offered, raising a hand.

“Nono, I need you to help me make sense of some of this stuff.” They turned something over in their hand, a pointed piece of metal the size of their arm with wires dangling from one end. “This is really ancient. Didn’t realize how much I’d gotten used to the more modern stuff.”

Donna huffed. “I’ll go by myself, then. But if I get surprised and killed by that ruby thing while I’m gone, I’m blaming you.”

“I’d blame me too. You’ll be fine,” they said casually, not taking their eyes off the heap of parts as Donna jogged off.

Pearl crouched beside the pile. The Doctor still didn’t look up.

“I think that’s the leg of a palanquin,” she said. “Not a Diamond one, of course. Probably Iolite.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor breathed distractedly. “She seems like the type that’d break something and throw a tantrum.”

Pearl stifled a laugh. It was probably true--still, not that she was the gossiping type. Iolite’s tantrums were Iolite’s business, and Pearl was perfectly fine picking up the pieces in silence.

“Why are you doing this?” the Doctor said, apparently out of the blue.

Pearl raised an eyebrow. “I already said.”

“No, it can’t be just curiosity, that’s not worth the risk,” the Doctor said, shaking their head. Their eyes were finally undistracted, and focused completely on her. “We all know what happens if you’re found out. Besides, I thought you said Sapphire was a kind master.”

“She’s still a master,” Pearl said, her tone turned sharp. “Everything in my life is all about her. But maybe I don’t want to spend the rest of forever just following her around. Maybe I want to  _ do  _ things. I want to see things, I want to learn things. I want surprises and excitement and--”

A sigh. 

“Freedom.”

“You want to be your own Gem,” the Doctor said.

“That's terrible of me to think, though, isn't it?” Pearl knit her brow. “Pearls aren’t supposed to want anything except to serve their master. And I’ve always done so the best I can, and I’ve never really had anything bad happen to me because of it, but--I don’t know. Maybe something went wrong when I was made. There’s so many other pearls that have it worse off than me, and you never see any of them running away and setting schemes or anything.”

“Don’t you?”

Pearl curled her fingers, eyebrows arching, memories flashing. Iolite snapping and complaining and screeching and never noticing how her pearl’s arms always shook; Spessartine nudging and holding and touching and never noticing how her pearl’s eyes always flinched.

“Maybe that’s it,” she murmured. “Maybe if they see a pearl who should be perfectly happy going off and rebelling, they’ll realize that the rest of us aren’t happy, either.”

The Doctor was still. “I reckon that’s a good cause to believe in.”

One side of Pearl’s mouth rose and fell, a half-second half-smile.

“Will this do?”

Pearl started a little, surprised by the sudden shout, and turned to see Donna returning with a hunk of crystal held over her head.

“Brilliant! Perfect!” the Doctor said, standing and trotting past Pearl. Pearl pushed herself to her feet a little more slowly, her limbs wobbling the slightest bit.

She’d never really been so open and honest with another person before. She’d never been able to really say what she thought.

It felt good.

“I think we might just have everything,” the Doctor said.

* * *

_ Chapter 3: Base _

_ Starring DAVID TENNANT, CATHERINE TATE, and DEEDEE MAGNO HALL _

_ Featuring TERESA GALLAGHER as IOLITE and MCKENZIE ATWOOD as TURQUOISE _

_ (Ok, here’s the gist of the scene planned here cus it was a very fun idea but like i said, it’s stagnated and time to let go, I’m not gonna write out the whole thing. Plus it’s probably WAY unnecessary and would bring the pace down super bad. _

_ They go aboveground but realize that in order to complete their plan, they’re gonna have to get some space to work, and they’re gonna have to get past Iolite. Fortunately, unlike Spessartine or Sapphire, Iolite probably doesn’t know who they are. The Doctor tells Donna to hold her breath for as long as she can and to think either angry thoughts or dirty thoughts--if she can get her face pink enough, combined with her red hair and fuschia blouse, she just might be able to pass for a Gem. She just has to follow their lead and say as little as possible. _

_ They walk out. Donna is Morganite, a very illustrious high-ranking scientist visiting to tour the colony, just a routine thing, Sapphire invited her--as proof, Sapphire’s pearl is escorting her. The Doctor is a brand-new Gem strain Morganite’s been developing: Doctorite, designed to do the talking for high-ranking Gems who either are too tired to move their own mouths or too important to speak to lesser lifeforms etc. _

_ Donna struggles and suffers a little tryna keep her face pink, but has a very good time acting imperious and occasionally bossing “Doctorite” around. Probably criticizes how much they’re talking, lots of “GET TO THE POINT ALREADY.” After what they pulled with “the plucky young girl who helps me out” in The Unicorn and the Wasp, this is very nice revenge. _

_ Pearl’s the one who really sells it the best. And Iolite buys it. _

_ And the moment Iolite lets them into her personal chambers, they kick her out--Pearl is very rebellious, very defiant, very smug, and very cute about it--and start building their bomb, and Iolite runs off to go tattle. _

***

“Look, if you would just listen to me--Sapph--”

Sapphire kept walking, ignoring Iolite’s frantic pleading. 

Iolite tried a different tactic. “Your Clarity, your Grand Clarity, if I could-- _ stars,  _ you’re fast--”

“The future comes quickly, every now and then,” Sapphire said. “It’s best we keep up.”

“Forget about the future for a minute and think about the present,” Iolite urged. “Your pearl is actively betraying you right this very minute!  _ She’s  _ the one plotting to destroy the colony, and you have all the power and authority to just stop her--I had her and the Doctor captured for a moment, but--”

“It is not to be.” They had reached the top of the spire now; Sapphire dropped her skirts and folded her hands, gliding over to peer out the window at the central hub.

Iolite humphed and stood at Sapphire’s side. “Then what  _ is  _ to be, your Clarity?” she asked, this time speaking the title with a spike of sarcasm rather than obsequity. “The only specifics you’ve given us is that the hub will be destroyed today, and that it’ll be rebuilt after a few thousand years of focusing on a different planet. How does it happen?”

Sapphire paused, looking forward. If she just gave in and explained everything, then Iolite would leave her alone. She tilted her head down and turned around to face Iolite.

“My pearl will continue working alongside the Doctor and their companion, and together, the three of them will create a weapon designed specifically to destroy the colony’s central hub,” she said. “Turquoise and Spessartine will join me here, and you will try to follow the conspirators up the hub tower. When the explosive goes off, it will destroy your physical form and shatter my pearl. No other Gems will be harmed.”

Iolite opened her mouth, then closed it.

“There is no way to change that,” Sapphire finished. “It’s for the best.”

“A-and--” Iolite started to stammer, but then stopped. After a second of consideration, she said, “I’ll be fine when I reform, though, right? And none of us will be punished for losing the colony?”

Sapphire hesitated.

“What? Come on!” Iolite stood up straight. “Whatever happened to ‘comfort toward a predestined resolution’?”

“Our Diamond will not be happy about our failure,” Sapphire admitted. “But she will forgive us eventually, so we must not try to fight the inevitable.”

“Oh, no, nonono. Do  _ not  _ try to make it about all of us,” Iolite growled. “This isn't ‘our failure’, this is just your stubbornness! I am  _ not  _ going to fall out of my Diamond's favor because  _ you  _ can't control your pearl, and I'm not going to let Turquoise and Spessartine suffer for this, either! I'm going to find a way to stop this!”

“You can't change the future.”

“Watch me!”

Sapphire sighed, shoulders slumping, and gave up. Temporarily victorious, Iolite lifted her chin and stormed down the stairs.

Nothing was really different, when Sapphire looked into the future now. Iolite would try to warn Spessartine and Turquoise and get their support, but it wouldn't work. Fate would proceed just as foretold.

Yes, she was stubborn. But that was just how things were. How they always would be. She had already accepted it.

* * *

_ Chapter 4: Plan _

_ Starring DAVID TENNANT, CATHERINE TATE, and DEEDEE MAGNO HALL _

_ Featuring ERICA LUTTRELL, SHERYL LEE RALPH, TERESA GALLAGHER, and MCKENZIE ATWOOD _

_ Featuring MICHAELA DIETZ as CHALCEDONY _

_ (They complete the bomb. It’s very big. The Doctor is very proud.) _

“Brilliant,” Donna said. “How are we going to get it to the hub?”

The Doctor opened their mouth, then closed it.

“Well, we could--” They stammered a little. “Well. I. Didn’t think that far.”

Donna rolled her eyes and leaned over to Pearl. “He’s a genius, honestly. The dumbest genius I’ve ever met.”

Pearl didn’t laugh.

“We can’t carry it, obviously,” the Doctor said to themself, “and even if we could we’d never be able to sneak it past the Gems--”

Donna’s teasing smirk faded and she turned to fully face Pearl. “You all right?”

“I can take it in,” Pearl declared.

The Doctor looked up from the bomb. “What?”

“I can take the bomb into the hub,” Pearl said. “I can store it in my gem. And Sapphire and Turquoise and Spessartine still don’t suspect a thing from me. I could just go right in and nobody would stop me.”

“But what about Iolite? There’s no way she’d let you go,” Donna argued.

“Never mind Iolite,” the Doctor said. “What about you?”

Pearl tossed her bangs away from her eyes. “What about me?”

“If this thing goes off while inside your gem, you’ll be shattered,” the Doctor said. “More than shattered. You’ll be rubble. You’ll be dust.”

“But Fennwailia will be free,” Pearl replied. She gave a little sideways smirk. “And so will we, really.”

“It’s too risky. We can figure out some other way--”

“There  _ is  _ no other way!” Pearl suddenly shouted.

Donna stepped back.

“Is there, Doctor?”

Her voice had fallen again, just as quickly as it had been raised.

“I’ve spent my whole life ruled by the future. Always knowing what’s coming and not being able to stop it. I’ve learned to accept it,” Pearl stated. “Sapphire already knows I’m going to die here. I think you know, too.”

“But the future can be changed,” Donna tried to interject.

Pearl smiled at her. “Who told you that?”

Donna looked to the Doctor for help. They kept their eyes on Pearl, expression stern.

“You don’t have to die,” they said. “I could get you out. Soon as you drop it off, I could pop in with the TARDIS and whisk you away. Away from danger, away from Sapphire, away from Homeworld. We could take you with us. To times and galaxies a billion miles away, where you could be your own Gem. You could really be free.”

Pearl didn’t respond, just smiled wider and raised her hand.

The bomb shimmered, then glowed white to match Pearl’s gem. The light shrank into a little ball small enough to fit inside her palm and floated over to her. Then it faded, and Pearl dropped her hand.

Dropped it like it was much heavier now. She caught it with her other hand, and held both to her chest, proudly straightening her stature and setting her brow.

“Run,” the Doctor said.

Pearl nodded and took off running.

Instinctively, Donna chased her for a few steps before she reached the warp pad and disappeared. Donna kept going, caught in momentum, until she was stopped by the balcony railing.

“Doctor, tell me you weren’t lying to her,” Donna ordered, looking over at the colony hub. “Tell me you meant it. Tell me you’ll save her.”

The Doctor turned around. “Come back to the TARDIS.”

***

Pearl slowed to a walk as soon as she saw other Gems; what use could a pearl possibly have for running, especially with no owner in sight? But it was a quick walk, nonetheless.

She didn’t  _ really  _ believe the Doctor would save her. They said they could--they didn’t say they would. But it still felt nice to think of hoping.

At the door at the base of the tower, a pair of chalcedonies stood guard. Pearl quickened her pace and bowed her head as she passed by.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

One of them grabbed her by the arm and slung her backwards. Pearl squeaked and shrank as small as she could--heel to heel, wrist to wrist, forehead to knuckles. “Forgive me! My Sapphire is waiting for me at the top!”

“Oh. Whoops. Sorry.”

Chalcedony stepped back. Pearl bowed. “Thank you.”

Her steps were faster now, more nervous. The quicker she could get to the top, the quicker she could drop off the bomb, the less likely Iolite would catch up with her, the better off Fennwailia would be--

“There she is!”

She glanced down. Iolite.

“Get her!” Iolite ordered her own pearl. “Grab her!”

Pearl broke into a run. 

_ (On the way she's interrupted by Spessartine’s pearl, who joins her with barely any convincing; then at the top, Iolite and her pearl catch up to them) _

Iolite’s pearl grabbed her arm.

And paused.

“Good work, Pearl,” Iolite exhaled heavily, her face crooked with a desperate smile. “Now bring her to me, and I’ll remind her what we do with defects!”

Pearl stepped back and raised her hand, pulling Iolite’s pearl back with her. “If anything happens to me, it’ll just make the bomb go off sooner.”

“Quiet, you little hunk of dirt!” Iolite snapped. “Pearl, bring her to me, now!”

Iolite’s pearl tightened her grip on Pearl’s arm and shook her head.

Iolite gasped.

“How  _ dare  _ you!” She bared her teeth. “You dull, defective, disrespectful brat, when we get back to Homeworld I’ll--”

“What's going on up here?”

At the shout, all three pearls tensed and backed up closer toward the wall. Spessartine appeared in the doorway, eyes wide and wild and ready for a fight.

“Spessartine!” Iolite squeaked. “Oh, thank the stars. Make your pearl do something! Mine won’t listen to me!”

“What?”

“She's not yours!” Pearl declared. “She's her own Gem!”

“That’s right!” Spessartine’s pearl affirmed. “None of us belong to anyone anymore. And neither does this planet!”

Spessartine froze, eyes locked on her pearl’s. Her pearl stood still, unwavering.

“Why would you--” Spessartine almost whispered. “I th--I thought...you and I…”

Her pearl shook her head. “That was never love.”

_ “Love?”  _ Iolite scoffed. “Who cares about love? What in the cosmos is she talking about? Spessartine, do somethi--”

Spessartine pivoted and shoved Iolite at the open window.

***

Sapphire gasped and bolted upright.

Turquoise jumped a little, startled. “Sapphire? What’s wrong? What did you see?”

“Spessartine.” Sapphire picked up her skirts with one hand and grabbed Turquoise’s wrist with the other. “Come on!”

***

Iolite screamed and fell backward, but managed to catch the ledge with one hand. Spessartine grabbed that hand in an attempt to wrench it off.

“Traitor!” Iolite shrieked, clawing against Spessartine’s grip and struggling to pull herself back up. “You traitor! I’ll have you shattered!”

“Don’t bother!” Spessartine barked. She brought a sharp elbow down hard on Iolite’s fingers, evoking another scream. “I’ve got nothing to lose!”

Spessartine’s pearl tightened her grip on Pearl’s arm.

***

_ (this was just gonna be another shot of sapph for dramatic effect) _

***

“Spessartine, the stairs!” 

Spessartine turned to see that Sapphire and Turquoise were rushing up the west stairs. She let go of Iolite and moved to stop them.

“No,” Pearl said firmly. “Let them come. I want her to see this.”

“There they are! All of them!” Turquoise pointed.

Pearl lifted her hand higher. “Sapphire!”

She was still too far to reach fast enough, even with her speed. Sapphire reached forward a desperate hand. “Pearl, don’t!”

“I am not your property!” Pearl proclaimed. “I am my own Gem!”

She slammed her hand down. Her gem smashed against the wall beside her.

And everything was swallowed in a brilliant, blinding light.

* * *

_ Chapter 5: Aftermath _

_ Starring DAVID TENNANT, CATHERINE TATE, and ERICA LUTTRELL _

Sapphire had always been slower to regenerate, but this time she was in a hurry. She reformed while her gem was still on the ground where it landed, while fire and rubble were still flying through the air. Tears were flowing before she even got a chance to open her eye. 

Sapphire pushed herself up to her knees and shoved her bangs out of her face so she could see clearly--no need to have hair in the way in addition to tears and heat and dust--

Turquoise was nearby, formless but unharmed; she would regenerate on Homeworld. Iolite had been blown in the opposite direction; she’d be fine as well. Spessartine was further away, but Sapphire could see cracks spiderwebbing across the gem; she’d be put out of her misery soon. Not one of their pearls was in sight, in the present or the future.

“Didn’t go as you foresaw, Sapphire, did it?”

Sapphire whipped her head around to see the Doctor looking down at her. Their companion and their machine were close behind.

“This is still a victory for Homeworld,” Sapphire insisted, her voice thick. “Fennwailia will be ours again.”

“But Pearl’s right,” they replied. “It’s not about Fennwailia.”

“There was a defect in her creation. It won’t happen again.” Saltwater spilled over Sapphire’s lips, and she didn’t bother wiping it off. “You can’t change the future, Doctor. Nobody can. I foresaw all of this. I knew the colony would fall. I knew Pearl would betray me.”

“And you did nothing to stop it and innocent Gems died,” the Doctor spat, striding forward.

“I tried!”

“You didn’t try hard enough!”

Sapphire flinched away from their shout. She had never felt smaller.

The Doctor crouched to be at her eye level.

“So here’s a prediction of my own,” they said quietly. “Here’s what I foresee.”

Sapphire wiped her eye and inhaled.

“You’re never going to own a pearl again,” they declared. “And not just out of fear that she’ll turn on you. Out of guilt of what you’ve done to  _ her.  _ You’ll never, ever forgive yourself.

“But your Diamond will forgive you. And the next time she summons you to help her with a new colony...you’ll fail her. Beyond any chance of ever redeeming yourself to her.

“And I wish I could say that’ll be your punishment. I wish I could say you’ll suffer for it.” They stood, eyebrows arching. “But really, it’s the happiest you’ll ever be.”

“You’re wrong,” Sapphire clawed back. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but you’re wrong!”

“Never underestimate a pearl, Sapphire,” the Doctor finished as their farewell. “Never underestimate any Gem who’s spent her life underneath the rest.”

They turned around and walked back to their machine. Their companion kept her eyes on Sapphire for just a second longer before she followed them, and the doors clacked shut.

The sound of the TARDIS and the sound of the flames were loud, but not enough to drown out the sound of Sapphire’s sobs.

***

Inside the TARDIS, it was silent for a while.

“Is it true?” Donna asked. “Your prediction that you told her?”

The Doctor flipped a switch. “Every word of it.”

“What happens?”

There was a beat. The Doctor shuffled to the other side of the console. Hiding again.

Donna didn’t move, just kept watching them, knowing they had to concede eventually. 

“Well,” they finally said, “something surprises her.” They recited the words, like it was a story that had already happened long ago. “Some _ one  _ surprises her. Saves her. Throws her whole life off track. She reacts impulsively, makes mistakes. Loses everything she’s ever known, everything she’s ever worked for. And it helps her grow and change. It helps her become...something entirely new.”

Donna shrugged. “How, though?”

“Same way it happens to everyone.” The Doctor grinned. “She falls in love.”

Donna smiled. Small and soft at first. But then the smile turned into a laugh.

“You sap! You complete and utter--”

“Ah, stop it, don’t make fun of me--”

“--sentimental fool--”

“Don’t be like that. You know you love it, too,” the Doctor teased.

“You should write poetry.”

“Alright, stop it,” the Doctor said, still smiling. “And, you know, that’s not the only bright side. With Sapphire and Spessartine gone from Homeworld, they probably won’t ever actually try to take back Fennwailia. It’s free for good now.”

“I told you you could save one planet.”

“Yeah. You did.” 

Donna’s laugh faded, followed by her smile. She looked up, expression again serious. “Then it’s also true that you knew Pearl was going to die from the start.”

Another switch was flipped.

“Yes.”

“And...there’s no way we could have saved her?”

“No way.”

Half of Donna wanted to press for an explanation, or at least an excuse. But the other half--the softer half, the forgiving half--knew better.

She stood. She stepped quietly to stand beside the Doctor, then held her arms out at her sides.

It took them a while to let go of trying to ignore her, but finally they dropped their hands from the console and turned to her. She wrapped her arms tightly around them. After a second, they returned the embrace.

Too soon, the Doctor pulled away.

“Right. Thanks.” They cleared their throat, then put on the biggest, sappiest grin their face could muster. “Where to next?”

Donna hummed. “You mentioned Space Florida a while ago.”

“Space Florida it is.” The Doctor swung a lever into place.

***

The fires burned out. A ship arrived to collect the Gems who had survived.

A yellow-white sun rose over a free Fennwailia.

Far away from the rubble, just past the Kindergarten, on a hill with the barest scrub grass left peering from its soil, a hidden door slowly opened. A thin humanoid with pointy-tipped ears poked xir head out and glanced around.

Gradually the Fennwill stood up and took a step upon the ground. Xe spun a little, stopping when xir eyes fell upon the still-clearing smoke.

Xe glanced down. There was a tiny green wildflower alone in the grass, a small but bright, bright speck of hope.

The Fennwill smiled, then grinned, and more doors along the hillside began to open.

* * *

_ Epilogue: The Past _

_ Starring CHRISTINE EBERSOLE and SUSAN EGAN _

_ Knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-- _

“Pearl, get the door.”

White Diamond’s pearl danced on tiptoe away from her owner’s side to open the door. The Gem outside kept knocking in the same rhythm, one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three-four-one-two-three, playfully teasing; when it opened, her fist fell on empty air, and she hurriedly corrected herself.

“Where’s your pearl?”

“Not here yet. These new ones are taking forever,” Pink Diamond complained, sauntering into the room. “What about you? Is this your old one or did you get the new one to look the same?”

“She’s too special to be properly duplicated.” White smiled. “Twirl for us, lovely.”

Pearl twirled, beautifully and perfectly.

“But she’s from the same batch as the ones that went rogue, isn’t she? Blue said the whole generation should be decommissioned--”

“ _ My  _ pearl isn’t the type to ‘go rogue.’” White Diamond bent, and her pearl elegantly stepped into her hand. “She loves me too much, isn’t that right, Pearl?”

“She still has the potential _ ,  _ though,” Pink said, situating herself on a pillow. “Maybe I could just--”

“All Gems have the potential,” White sighed. She closed her eyes and drew her hand up to her face, allowing her pearl to lean against her cheek. “It’s just a matter of controlling them properly. Why should I be punished because Blue’s favorite little sapphire slacked off and cost her a planet?”

“But what if it’s not safe? I can just make you two or three new ones just in case! Blue’s is so much prettier than the one she had before and--”

“Pink…” White Diamond opened her eyes. “Who do you belong to?”

“I could do it if you just let me try!”

“Pink.”

Pink Diamond gritted her teeth and almost looked like she was going to yell something more. But White smiled and blinked, and Pink bowed her head. “I am yours, my Diamond.”

“So what place do you have telling me what to do?”

“None, my Diamond. I’m sorry.”

White Diamond lowered her hand so her pearl could hop off onto the armrest of her seat, but she didn’t quite relinquish the touch just yet. She liked keeping her favorite possessions close. “Don’t look so glum, starlight. You know I adore you. Now, what did you come to see me about in the first place?”

“Well, it’s actually about Blue and that planet,” Pink said, perking up a little. “But--never mind. You’re just gonna say no.”

“Tell me.”

Pink sat up and spoke quickly. “I want to take the Doctor’s favorite planet. As a present for Blue.”

White quirked an eyebrow. “A present?”

“Well, it’d still be my colony, but it’d all be in her honor. Lots of special spires and places for her court--ooh, and the planet’s covered in water, so there’s lots for her lapises. And--can I show you it?”

She gestured toward Pearl, keeping her eyes on her Diamond. White Diamond put her hand in her lap, and Pearl straightened. 

“Do as she says, Pearl.”

“Project an image of the Earth,” Pink Diamond commanded.

Pearl closed her eyes, her gem glowing. A hologram appeared, displaying a pretty little blue planet. The Diamonds watched it spin.

“I want my first Kindergarten right...there,” Pink said, pointing. “It’s a really good planet for colonization. It’s got tons of resources. Oh! And it’s where the Doctor gets almost all their companions, but they're always coming from the future, so if we take the planet now, it’ll ruin all sorts of things for them.”

“You really want your first colony to be motivated by revenge,” White hummed.

Pink giggled. “Don’t make it sound so serious. I just want to play with them a little. And Blue’s been so sad lately after what happened. It’d be nice to cheer her up.”

“And if the Doctor decides they want to save it?” White asked.

“They won’t,” Pink said surely. “I’ve already asked three sapphires.”

“And have you asked the others?”

Pink pouted. “Yellow still doesn’t think I deserve my own colony. But I know I can do it, I  _ know  _ I can, I just need a chance--”

On the last word her voice squeaked, and White calmed it with a gentle “shhh.”

White Diamond lifted a finger to her pearl again, muttering, “That will be all, lovely.” Pearl shut off the hologram she’d been projecting and slid back into her Diamond’s hand. “All right. That will be all, Pink.”

Pink suddenly sat up straighter, face brightening. “Wait, so can I have the colony?”

“The planet’s yours as soon as you want to take it,” White replied.

Pink Diamond squealed and bounced to her feet. “Thank you! I’ll take it right away! I won’t let you down, I promise!” She blew White a kiss, gave Pearl’s hair a ruffle, and ran for the door.

The door slid shut. White Diamond leaned back.

“I worry for her, Pearl,” she mused. “She’s so soft. Not like a  _ real  _ Diamond. You’ve got to be a little tougher to survive in this universe.”

“Then it’s a good thing you’re here to protect her, my Diamond,” Pearl replied quietly.

“Hm...protect her, yes. After she’s done with this little present I’ll bring her right back into my care.”

White Diamond turned and smirked, another thought crossing her mind. She raised one mighty hand to her dutiful little trinket and pinched--ever so gently--the dainty oval stone there between the long nails of her thumb and forefinger.

A shiver of tension rippled across Pearl’s form. White Diamond chuckled low in her throat, and trailed her fingernail from her gem to her eye.

“You wouldn’t dream of rebelling against me, would you, lovely?” she sang.

Pearl, who had never heard the word ‘rebel’ until this moment and was just starting to piece together what it meant, stood perfectly still as a perfect pearl should and smiled sweetly.

“Never,” she lied. “My Diamond.”


	14. Fall Out (Lapidot & Amedot, but not lapamedot)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My response to Raising the Barn, cus goodness know that episode wrecked me. There’s very little actually here, but basically I just wanted to take a look at how Lapis and Peridot’s relationship might have looked in that unhealthy unbalanced period, and the subtle little things that might have tipped us off that there was something wrong there.

Peridot woke to the sensation of something shoving at her back. The surface under her gave way, and she landed on her face with a  _ slam. _

Clodding hammock. She shakily rose to her knees, holding a hand to her gem and grimacing. This was the third time this week she’d fallen out.

_ (She gets up and sees Lapis curled up tight in the hammock, holding Pumpkin and shaking a little. She tries to get back in with her, but at her touch Lapis growls and slaps her away. Peridot realizes that the reason she fell out in the first place was that Lapis must’ve pushed her.) _

Oh. She was having another nightmare.

Expression softening, Peridot carefully held a hand over Lapis’s shoulder, not quite actually touching her.

“Lapis, it’s me,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

_ (She tries to wake her up to calm her down, but Lapis lashes out and shoves her away again. Pumpkin wriggles out of her arms and is scared. Lapis probably does some spooky water stuff too, eventually becoming threatening enough that Peridot has to run out of the barn. It’s fine, she reasons to herself, she’s just having a nightmare, she just needs a little time and some pace to herself and then she’ll wake up and realize what’s real and everything will be fine again. Until then Peridot just needs to take Pumpkin up to sit on the roof, out of reach, and distract herself with her tablet. _

_ She ends up talking to Amethyst, who’s commandeered Steven’s phone while he’s asleep. Peridot explains the situation in a blase, unconcerned manner, which Amethyst raises her eyebrow at, but she can’t really press further. Or maybe she does press further, and Peridot actively avoids admitting that anything is messed up here. However the conversation goes, Amethyst is just able to get really concerned before they’re interrupted by--) _

“Peridot? Pumpkin?”

Peridot's head jumped up at the sound of Lapis's voice.

“Peridot!”

“Gotta go, Ams,” she said quickly, hitting the 'end call’ button before Amethyst could protest.

_ (She runs/jumps/trips/falls down to the floor of the barn. Lapis is awake and panicked and has fallen out of the hammock herself, and Peridot runs over to her and Lapis clutches at her.) _

“You're here,” Lapis breathed, laying her palm against Peridot's cheek. “You're here. You're real.”

“Course I am,” Peridot said, attempting a comforting smile. “I'm not going anywhere.”

Lapis's haunted expression didn't change; her grip on Peridot's hands didn't loosen.

Hesitantly she leaned forward and wrapped one arm around Peridot's back. Her other arm slowly mirrored the first, and then she clutched her to her shoulder, fingertips digging into skin. Peridot gently returned the embrace.

“It just seemed real,” Lapis murmured. “I thought I was gonna be trapped forever this time. I thought--I thought I'd never be able to touch you again, or fly, or talk to Steven, or see leaves or fish or birds--”

_ (Peridot comforts and reassures until Lapis is able to relax again. Or at least, as much as Lapis can ever relax. She gets back into the hammock and lets Peridot climb in with her, but Pumpkin refuses to join them. Peridot’s tablet is left on the floor, and Peridot hears it buzzing and can guess that Amethyst’s trying to call her, but she decides not to answer.) _


	15. Wanderlost (Amedalia & Pearlmethyst)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst’s reaction to the events of Reunited. Also contains a touch of Amedot if you squint, because i'll never not love them and be emotional about them

Barely moments after Steven’s eyes had opened, they fell closed again.

“Steven?” Connie exclaimed, kneeling to grab his shoulders. “Is he unconscious again?”

Amethyst crouched and poked Steven’s stomach. He moved a little, rolling away from her, but didn’t change his face.

“I think he’s just zonked out,” Amethyst said.

“What does that mean?” Yellow Diamond stood back up to her full height, fists clenched. “What’s happened to her?”

“He’s asleep,” said Garnet. “He’s got to be exhausted.”

“What right have you to speak for her, amalgam?” Blue Diamond snapped.

Amethyst tensed, and felt everyone around her do the same.

“You  _ asked,”  _ Garnet said through gritted teeth.

But before anyone could get more confrontational, there was a soft clearing of a throat. Pearl politely stepped forward, gently touching Amethyst’s shoulder as she passed.

“My Diamonds, if I may,” she almost-sang, almost-whispered, sweeping impossibly gracefully into a bow so low her nose nearly touched the sand. 

Amethyst’s stomach soured, like she remembered it souring in the human zoo. She was acting like a Homeworld pearl was supposed to--not like Pearl, but like  _ a  _ pearl, like nothing but a classy little mindless servant.

“This form Pink Diamond has taken will need a few hours of rest after this taxing reunion,” Pearl said in that awful meek pearl voice. “After that, we can explain everything.”

“A few hours?” Yellow Diamond repeated, skeptical and indignant. “And what do you expect us do in the meantime, wait quietly outside?”

“For the sake of Steven’s rest, the quieter the better,” Pearl replied. It wasn’t quite bold enough to count as a snark, but there was a low ripple of sass underlining it that let Amethyst smirk a little.

Yellow Diamond  _ hmph _ ed and squared her shoulders. “Fine. We’ll give you until your orbital star is fully in view.”

There must have been a family resemblance there--she sounded exactly like Peridot did back when she still hated everyone. How hard was it to just say ‘sunrise’?

“Thank you, my Diamonds.”

_ (I don’t know how to do blocking or transitional scenes. Pearl & Garnet take Steven inside, Greg takes Connie back to her parents, and Amethyst wanders to Vidalia’s house.) _

“Hey,” Amethyst said flatly, gaze on the ground. “You mind if I crash here for a sec?”

Vidalia grinned and lightly punched Amethyst’s bicep. “I’ve always got room on my couch for my best gal. Come on in.”

Amethyst didn’t return the smile, but accepted the invitation and shuffled into the house. Vidalia quietly closed the door behind her.

“Yellowtail’s upstairs with Onion in his room, and Sour Cream’s still with his friends at the Pizza place, so we got the whole floor to ourselves,” Vidalia said, settling onto the couch. “Well, and Greg’s cousin is in the garage with the little pumpkin dog thing. What’s his name again?”

“Pumpkin?”

“No, the cousin.”

“Andy.”

“Yeah.” Vidalia leaned against the back of the couch. “But they’ll leave us alone. You wanna do something?”

“Like what?”

Vidalia shrugged. “I dunno. Watch a movie, play cards...see how many gross leftovers you can fit in your mouth at once?”

“I’m not that hungry,” Amethyst mumbled.

It was true, but the moment Amethyst said it she regretted it--it was definitely gonna raise a major red flag to her mood. Vidalia frowned.

She shifted to sit closer to Amethyst, and laid a soft hand on her knee.

“Hey, what happened out there?” she asked gently.

Amethyst slouched, hands in her pockets. “Wayyy too much.”

“Okay, what’s the thing that happened that’s got you so mopey?”

For a moment, Amethyst hesitated. Her eyes turned down. Then they closed with a sigh.

She drew her hands out of her pockets and opened them to reveal a dormant stone in each: blue in the left, green in the right.

_ (Vidalia recognizes that this is a messed-up situation, and invites Amethyst to talk things out, either about this specifically or about whatever might be bothering her in general. Eventually Amethyst relents.) _

“Steven called me the most mature Crystal Gem a little bit ago,” Amethyst admitted.

Vidalia gasped and grinned. “Whaat? No way.”

“I don’t wanna be, though,” Amethyst said. “I just wish everything could go back to the way it was when you and me were just chilling all the time and didn’t have to worry about anything. Or to when Steven was just this...happy little kid all the time. Or back to when me and Peridot were still best friends.”

“Hey, she’s always gonna be your best friend,” Vidalia tried to soothe her. “You two are unstoppable.”

“I’m not hers, though. Lapis is.” Amethyst’s expression soured. “Or she was, until she yoinked off into space with everything Peri cares about and wrecked everything.”

_ (They talk for a bit about nostalgia and regret--right here in this moment, Amethyst just wishes things were the same as when she and Vidalia first became friends. They didn’t have hardly anything to worry about back then. They were just messing around, having the time of their lives. Vidalia admits that she misses that, too. More than that, though, she just misses Amethyst herself. _

_ And the conversation leads to smoochin’. And then the smoochin’ is interrupted.) _

Footsteps on the staircase.

Amethyst opened her eyes to see Yellowtail standing stiffly in the doorway. Vidalia abruptly pulled away, adjusting her hair.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said, automatically moving to rub her wedding ring with her opposite hand. “Is Onion doing okay?”

Amethyst scooched away from Vidalia a little bit; Yellowtail didn’t glance at her. She pursed her lips and folded her hands as he meh-mehed something probably totally mundane and boring.

_ (Yellowtail and Vidalia seem to be really chill and open and honest in their relationship, so there’s probably not really a problem with Amethyst being here like this, but it still makes ame feel awkward. Vidalia tells her to sit tight while she checks on Onion real quick. I think I had another bit of this scene planned where Andy comes up and they have a little convo, but I can’t remember what I was thinking they would talk about. I do remember thinking it’d be cute if Pumpkin and Andy were like besties now, all snuggly and close. _

_ Eventually Amethyst decides not to sit tight, and she leaves without waiting for Vidalia to come back and say goodbye.) _

* * *

When she returned to the Temple, the Diamonds were still there. Unfortunately. They hadn’t randomly decided to just go back and leave them alone for another five thousand years. But they weren’t looking down at her; they were staring at the house.

Blue Diamond was holding Yellow Diamond’s hand. She drew it to her lips and kissed it with almost loving concern--if the Diamonds had been capable of love.

Aw, heck, what was she thinking? They were no different from Rose. She was plenty capable of love, even if it had come with more than its fair share of lies. Still, though, that didn’t mean Blue and Yellow had to slop their PDA all over the beach like that. Get a room.

_ (She goes inside. Steven’s still asleep; Pearl’s keeping watch, sitting on the floor beside his bed, her phone in her hand. Amethyst sits next to her and looks at the screen.) _

Amethyst scoffed. “You still haven’t changed your background from my selfie? Nerd, people’re gonna think you  _ looove  _ me--”

“Oh, please,” Pearl smirked.

“Oooh! Pearl lo-oves meee!”

“We just haven’t had time for you to show me how,” Pearl said, swiping the phone away and lifting to put it back in her gem. “Besides, that should be obvious.”

“What, that you still can’t figure out dumb Earth technology?” Amethyst teased.

Pearl raised an eyebrow and lowered her now-empty hand, her gem’s glow fading. “What? No, it should be obvious that I love you.”

Amethyst’s mocking grin vanished. “O--oh.”

_ (I think they just sit there in silence for the rest of the night. Maybe they talk a little more. Pearl might sigh and mention how much she hates this, the Diamonds being there, having to bow and talk to them like that, Steven having to take responsibility like this, Garnet’s big day being ruined. How much she hates that Amethyst has to deal with all this nonsense too. But I think they just lean on each other and sit there, and find comfort in being there with each other.) _


	16. Toast to the Bride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody’s speeches from Garnet’s wedding reception!! Like the Doctor Who one, this has a lot of stuff that I really like but it’s just been sitting here too long.  
> This is the last piece of this mass post. I still have a couple little things I want to keep working on, and I definitely won’t stop writing Steven Universe forever, but I want this to be my sort of sendoff to it.  
> Y’all...I know everyone and their dog has been saying the same thing, but this show has been so important to me. The world, the themes, the representation, the pure beauty of the art and the music and the story, the spectacular characters and their relationships and the love they have for each other...it’s unmatchable. There has never been anything quite like Steven Universe, and it will always have a crucial, precious place in my heart.  
> The day I watched Reunited was a life-changing day for me. It’s always gonna be a special memory. And there’s always gonna be a part of me in attendance at that wedding.

_ Master of Ceremonies _

Hey, everyone! Thank you all for coming, especially since it was kind of short notice. We’re all so happy to see everyone here. And of course we’re really sad to be missing all of our friends who aren’t here--we love them, and we remember them, and we wish they could be here. But today’s not a day to be sad. It’s a day to celebrate the happy couple!

Ruby and Sapphire are two Gems who are opposite in a lot of ways, but they’re like the queen of hearts and queen of spades--perfectly suited to each other. They’re like a pianist and a guitarist--always in a chord. They’re like a pair of janitors, always sweeping each other off their feet!

They’re complementary; they’re balanced. But most importantly, they’re in love. They’ve made a promise to love each other and support each other and stay together for all eternity now. And that’s why we have Garnet, who is, like I said earlier, one of my favorite people in the whole universe. And I know I say that about a lot of people, but for Garnet, there’s no exaggerating. She’s really one of the most important beings in my life.

The last couple weeks have been...kinda messed up for me. We learned some pretty upsetting things about my mom, and I’ve been trying not to think about her. But as I was writing this speech, I realized I kinda couldn’t say what I wanted to without mentioning her a little bit.

I spent a really long time wishing I could be like my mom. She was the leader of the Crystal Gems and she was this amazing hero, and I thought everyone expected me to live up to her name--fill her shoes, I guess. But then I realized that, well, Rose Quartz never wore shoes. And I started getting scared that if I did end up like my mom, that wouldn’t be a good thing.

But there was someone else I decided I could try to be like. Someone who’s been there for me my whole life. Someone I can always count on to do the right thing and save the day, and help me be a better person. And that’s Garnet. She’s strong, she’s smart, she really cares about me and everyone around her. She’s made of love, and she uses love to power everything she does. She’s the real leader of the Crystal Gems, and she’s--

Sorry. I knew I brought tissues up here for a good reason.

She’s my role model. She’s my hero. And she’s more of a parent to me than my real mom ever could be.

I love you, Garnet. I’m so happy you’re here.

We’ve got a great program coming up before we get to the party bit of the reception. Everyone up here has some really awesome speeches prepared. And I’m sure they’re all gonna be just as emotional--by the end of the night, even the cake’s gonna be in tiers. Eh?

And don’t worry, I gave all the other speeches a rule that we’re not gonna mention my mom anymore. This is Garnet’s day, no Diamonds allowed. With that said, I want to thank you all again for coming, and introduce the next speaker, my dad, Greg Universe!

* * *

_ Father of the Bride _

Thanks, Schtu-ball. Hey, let’s get Steven another round of applause for planning this whole thing, eh?

This kid’s always loved weddings. He’s had this big book for his dream wedding ever since he was...geez, you were, what, four when I bought that thing for you? What better way to finally put it to use than for the couple who started it all--the one who’s been protecting this planet for thousands of years, and helped with Steven from the very beginning. Garnet’s really important to us, and we’re just thrilled to have this big reason to celebrate her.

Now, little spoiler alert here--I know usually the best man’s supposed to be the one with all the embarrassing stories, but when I asked Amethyst what she was planning to use in her speech, she actually said she didn’t have any. Garnet’s a pretty tough person to embarrass. But  _ I  _ have one story that I think’ll get at least a little bit of a blush out of her. Ah, see, she didn’t see this coming--don’t worry, it’s a good one. And it’s actually about Sapphire and Ruby.

Before this last couple weeks, I’d actually only met Garnet’s components two or three other times. The first was kind of a bit of a downer story, so I’ll keep that one for another day, but the second time--it felt like a downer at the time, but it’s got a happy ending.

So I run It’s A Wash. As many of you probably noticed, a while back, the tunnel brushes in the wash started getting a little worn and grody, so I decided to scout around for some new ones to buy. Unfortunately, the only ones that fit into my budget at the time had to be found off the internet and picked up all the way out in Keystone--I know, right? So to try to brighten it up, I decided to turn the trip into a little vacation for me and Steven. And then Garnet decided to tag along.

I thought, that’s a little surprising, but alright, what’s the harm? So we brought her along, I dropped them off at the motel and let them get set up, and then I took off to meet this internet guy. And I gotta tell you, I was expecting that to be the most interesting thing that happened that weekend. I was thinking, Garnet’s gonna keep Steven safe and occupied watching TV back at the room while I’m meeting some stranger who’s got a 50% chance of being an axe murderer. But, he turned out to be a normal guy with some nice cheap brushes, so I figured that it was just gonna be normal all around.

But when I got back--hoo boy--when I got back I found Steven outside, totally alone, in his swimsuit, lookin’ all scowly and grimacey, and Garnet was nowhere to be found. Like, literally nowhere. I’m looking around, wonderin’, how’d she leave Steven all alone looking so upset like this? And I look into the room--and I see Sapphire, sitting on the bed by herself, and she’s turned the whole room into a walk-in freezer. Like, there’s frost on the walls and fog coming out of my mouth, the whole shebang. And I can’t even get a word out before she just turns to me and goes--

‘He’s not gonna like that it’s square.’

She was referring to Steven not liking the pizza I’d brought for dinner. And, of course, she was right.

So I close the door and I ask Steven ‘Alright, where’s the other one?’

Steven frowns and looks down and says, ‘She’s pacing around in what used to be the pool.’

And so I look over to the pool and there’s Ruby, stomping and muttering, with steam all around her. No water left in the pool, just steam.

It turns out the two of them were having a pretty big fight over something Pearl had done. I played it cool for Steven’s sake and didn’t ever pry for details, but it was a pretty huge shock to see them so mad at each other. But I mean, I didn’t think it would be  _ too  _ bad--I mean, it’s Pearl, right? What’s the worst she could’ve done? She adores Garnet, she’d nev--oh, geez, I’m trying to get Garnet to blush, not you. What’s the--

Oh. Right, sorry, um--anyways, changing the subject now--sorry--

Ahem. So we managed to get Sapphire out and de-freeze our room enough to get some sleep, and we just let them sulk outside for the night. I was like, tomorrow’s another day, we’re all gonna have a nice breakfast together, this’ll all blow over. 

It didn’t. Breakfast was a disaster. Ruby flipped the table over.

And by this point, it was just all too much for Steven, and he just ran out of the diner. But Ruby and Sapphire ran right after him, and I thought...maybe they’ll finally work it out for his sake. And don’t get me wrong, I wanted to go help them out too, but before I could there was the mess of the table I had to take care of. So I let the diner staff come at me and I took a chunk out of my wallet, but my mind’s all on Steven, and how rough this fight has been, and just worrying that maybe it’s not gonna blow over like we thought, and I finally get a chance to get away and I walk out of the diner--and there’s Ruby and Sapphire, wrapped up in each other’s arms and kissing like there’s no tomorrow. Poor Steven had to cover his eyes.

There we go, see, there’s that blush--yeah, you guys were being totally indecent in front of my innocent kid.

So yeah. They worked it out, we had Garnet back before you know it, and they worked things out with Pearl a little later, too.

Garnet, I don’t know how many disagreements Ruby and Sapphire have had in the past, but I do know that you’ve still got plenty ahead of you. Things happen, and people disagree, and people can cause each other harm with or without meaning it. But when those people love each other enough, they’ll always find a way to make each other happy in the end. That’s what relationships are about. That’s what marriage is about.

It’s kind of like when you break a bone--it hurts like heck when it happens, but if you take some deep breaths and give it the attention it needs to heal right, it’ll come back together stronger than ever.

So I wish you two the best marriage two Gems can have--full of love, full of happiness, and full of disagreements that’ll make you stronger in the end.

Before I sit down, I just want to take a second to talk about our next speaker, Pearl. Pearl’s a great friend of mine and an even greater friend of Garnet’s, and I know she’s gonna blow us all away with what she’s got prepared. I’ll leave these tissues up here for her cus I know she’s gonna get emotional--that’s a good thing, that’s a good thing. Pearl’s got a lot of love in her heart. And while sometimes it’s hard for her to express herself, when she does it’s the most honest and beautiful stuff you’ve ever seen.

So hey, let’s give it up for Pearl!

* * *

_ Mother of the Bride _

Thank you, Greg, that was a wonderful speech. At least, the ending bit was wonderful.

Not the stuff about me! I meant what he said about marriage and disagreements and--anyways, he gave a good speech. And now I’m going to give a speech. So--here we go.

Alright. Hello. My name is Pearl. The, um--the program has me listed as ‘mother of the bride’, but obviously I’m not Garnet’s mother. Gems don’t have mothers. Except Steven, of course--oh, does that count as mentioning Rose? Oh! Sorry, sorry--

I’m not Garnet’s mother. But I was present for her ‘birth’, so to speak, and for her early years as she sort of grew into herself--I was there when she first formed, and I was there for nearly every step as she discovered who she was. So, in a sense, I suppose there are some similarities between our relationship and that of a human mother.

Although, unlike most human mothers, I was brandishing a sword at her the first time we met. Actually, the second time we met, too.

Sorry, give me a moment, my cards are out of order…. Here we are.

This wedding came with its fair share of turmoil on the way. After learning some...very difficult information, Ruby and Sapphire split apart, and it seemed their entire relationship was being rocked. We weren’t sure if they were ever going to be together again.

It’s a scary thing, when something that you thought was fact turns out to be just a theory at best. It’s worse when you discover it was completely false all along. For such a long time, Garnet was a fact, but now nobody knew if she’d ever exist again.

Fortunately, Steven was there to take the lead and try to smooth things over. We managed to explain things to Sapphire, but then when we got back, Ruby had disappeared. She left a brief note, but for the most part we had no idea where she’d gone, or what she was doing, or whether she’d ever come back…. In hindsight, it may have made Sapphire and me a little...hysterical. But Steven took the lead again, and he and Amethyst promised to go find her, and Sapphire and I waited patiently behind.

They were gone for a full two days and nights. 

Sapphire assured me she could see Steven and Amethyst returning eventually, but for all we really knew, they’d all been caught in some horrible disaster.

But fortunately, obviously, they did return safely--though a little strangely. Sapphire and I were commiserating on the couch when Steven came in alone. When we ran outside, we saw Ruby, dressed in a cowboy hat and fringe, standing dramatically atop a horse. The horse turned out to be just Amethyst, but--well, I suppose that’s not too relevant.

Sapphire ran down onto the beach, desperately apologizing for how she’d acted. Ruby didn’t respond for a moment; then she somersaulted down from the horse and started coming forward with a little speech of her own, which I really wish I could’ve heard over the distance. I’m sure it was heartfelt and beautiful.

Then Ruby dropped to one knee. And, for once, Sapphire didn’t see what was coming--but I did. Ruby was asking Sapphire to marry her, and Sapphire was going to say yes.

Marriage as a concept has always been a bit mystifying to me. It’s full of complex legal connotations and strange differences in what it means to different cultures over time. For a long time humans seemed to use it as a method of ownership over each other, which...obviously never sat right with me. But marriage has also been used to define relationships in a wonderfully positive way. According to your most recent official online dictionary, it’s defined as ‘the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship’ or as ‘an intimate and close union.’

In that sense, marriage is about people close to each other coming together and creating a contract--an unbreakable agreement for each party to give an equal share of work and devotion in everything they do in life, as well as an agreement to face everything in life together as one. As spouses, they’ll be united as a single force throughout any troubles, bound together forever without any deceit or disconnect between them.

And I think that the absolute purest, most sincere manifestation of this concept is Garnet. Garnet has often said that she’s made of love, but she’s also made of honesty and communication and commitment. She’s made up of a pledge that no matter what happens, Ruby and Sapphire will always be there for each other, to build each other up and make each other better. 

I know we all promised not to talk about Rose, but--Rose was a cornerstone of my life for such a long time, and when she left us, I nearly fell apart completely in so many ways. But Garnet was always there to help me. Garnet is my constant. Garnet has always been there for me, she has always been strong, no matter how much she may have been suffering herself on the inside. Sometimes I’ve wondered how she can stay so strong, but it’s because of Sapphire and Ruby always holding each other up. Not that they’ll never stumble when trying to do this--there’s always going to be disagreements, and there’s always going to be weaknesses--but they are never going to give up on each other.

They’re each other’s constants. No matter how many times they fall, they’ve made a vow to always find a way help each other stand up again. That’s what truly makes Garnet a perfect relationship.

And even with all of this, Garnet is still more than a relationship. As a fusion, she’s her own individual, full of wisdom and fortitude and serenity. She’s also the leader of the Crystal Gems, an incredible fighter, an incredible mentor, and a very talented tennis player.

Most importantly to me, though, is that she’s my friend. She is my oldest and dearest friend in this universe, and if we were human, there is no question that I’d be proud to be her mother. I couldn’t be happier to have her back.

Thank you.

And speaking of having friends back, it's now my unimaginably unmatchable pleasure to introduce my second oldest dearest friend, someone whom all of you probably don't know very well but who’s been a remarkably important part of mine and Garnet’s lives. She's been away for a very long time, but now that she's here, we don't plan on ever letting her go again.

Yes. Ever.

Let's have a big round of applause for our maid of honor, Bismuth!

* * *

_ Maid of Honor _

Gimme just a sec--whoo. That ain’t fair, Pearl, you knew full well you were gonna make me bawl with all that. You all saw that, right? You all saw she did that on purpose?

_ Hoo.  _ Okay, I think I’m good now. What’s up, everybody? How’re we doing? I’m Bismuth, I’m one of Pearl and Garnet’s pals from way back during the war. We all...they all know about the war, right?

Uh, a bunch of upper crust Gems wanted to hollow the earth out and oppress us all, so we fought a war against them for it. And...kinda won. Kinda didn’t. Saved the earth, but--yeah.

Anyways, sommmmmmmmethingggggggg story fun stuff don’t let greg have the longest speech p l e a s e

_ (can we get a f in the chat. i was gonna try to come up with my own cute wartime story but that’s a lot of work) _

For them, it’s been five thousand years since the war ended. For me it’s been less than a few weeks. I’m still tryin’ to adjust, but so far, I like the way things are now. I like pizza and badminton and videogames--even though I’m not that good at ‘em. Steven and Amethyst beat me most of the time. 

But you know, the thing I’ve liked about being back most of all is seeing how much everyone’s grown while I was gone. Ruby and Sapphire aren’t just a pair of googly-eyed sweethearts anymore. I mean, they still get plenty googly-eyed around each other--but underneath the mushy stuff, they’ve got a real solid foundation. Garnet’s a powerhouse, and she knows it more than ever now. I still don’t totally understand all the nuances of this marriage stuff, but I know that Garnet deserves all the happiness she can get from it, and that the relationship she’s made of is really gonna last forever. So congratulations, G. I know you’re gonna have the best marriage this side of the universe.

Alright, that’s the end of my notes! Thank you!

Oh, yeah! Next up is Amethyst! Give her a hand!

Knock ‘em out, deep cut.

* * *

_ Best Man _

Um, yo. So, I’m supposed to give the, like, grand finale speech before we just open it for everybody to give their toasts and stuff. No pressure, right? But, uh, full disclosure, this is honestly probably gonna be the worst speech of the night. Just cus everyone else’s was so good! And, uh, I didn’t really actually manage to write anything down for mine? And I couldn’t think of any good stories, and I’m not really poetic or anything, so I'm just gonna kinda...say whatever comes to mind, I guess.

Um.

stumbles over beginning but then gets into huge beautiful raw emotional biz :]

_ (CAN WE GET A F IN THE CHAT) _

Yeah that’s my speech peace!

* * *

_ Flower Girl _

I do not have a speech formally prepared, nor was I officially given a spot on the program, but as the appointed Flower Girl and as Garnet's favorite Crystal Gem besides herself, I decided I ought to share some comments. And rest assured, I will not mention Rose Quartz, because I didn’t know her.

First of all, this is the first and best wedding I've ever been to! Steven's event-planning skills are exceptional. But, of course, this isn't about Steven--it's about Garnet. And Garnet herself is even more exceptional. Though it took me a very long time to appreciate her qualities--a very, very, very, very--

Ahem. Very long time. I now see that she is not only a powerful fighter and skilled strategic leader, but...just a really great friend. She’s cool and she's smart and she’s ridiculously loyal to her friends. Best of all, she knows who she is and what she stands for, and she never budges on any of it. Some may call it stubbornness--I have often called it stubbornness in the past--but now I simply see it as strength. Strength based wholly on the love of Ruby and Sapphire, the most compatible and devoted pair of Gems I've ever known. 

To Ruby and Sapphire!

Thank you! Speeches are over now! You may--urgh. Fine. Apparently we’re inviting more comments. I think mine were a perfect grand finale, but fine. Some humans can talk if they want or whatever.

Who?

MAYOR PIZZA! Who’s--small woman! You get to speak. I had to introduce you. I’m sitting down now.

* * *

_ Honored Guest _

I know that everyone is anxious to start this party, and so I will try to keep this short.

_ (tells some kinda story of when she first came to Beach City and became aware of the Crystal Gems. maybe she talks about the beach party episode? idk) _

I am honored to have her as the protector of Beach City, and I know she and the Crystal Gems will continue to do a fantastic job.

Welcome back, Garnet!

* * *

_ Bride’s Response _

Thank you. All of you. I’m very glad to be back and I love you all.

Now it’s dancing time.


End file.
